New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern to step down in February

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will resign next month. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will not seek reelection and plans to stand down no later than early February. A general election would be held on Oct. 14, she added.  "For me it's time," she said at a meeting of members of her Labour Party on Thursday. "I just don't have enough in the tank for another four years." Ardern, who became prime minister in a coalition government in 2017, then led her centre-left Labour Party to a comprehensive victory in an election three years later, has seen her party and personal popularity drop in recent polls.

"This summer, I had hoped to find a way to prepare for not just another year, but another term - because that is what this year requires," a visibly emotional Ardern said during the statement. "I have not been able to do that." “I’m leaving, because with such a privileged role comes responsibility. The responsibility to know when you are the right person to lead and also when you are not. I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple,” she said. Ardern's term will conclude no later than Feb. 7.