Jacinda Ardern Biography
Jacinda Kate Laurell Ardern (born July 26, 1980) is a New Zealander who has served as the Labour Party’s leader and the country’s 40th prime minister since 2017. She has represented the Labour Party as the Mount Albert member of parliament (MP) since 2017. Ardern said on January 19, 2023, that she will resign as Labour leader and prime minister by February 7 to allow for the election of a successor.
Jacinda Ardern was raised in Morrinsville and Murupara, even though she was born in Hamilton. She joined the Labour Party at the age of 17. After graduating from the University of Waikato in 2001, Ardern worked as a researcher in Prime Minister Helen Clark’s office. Later, when Tony Blair was the prime minister, she worked in London as a Cabinet Office aide.
Jacinda Ardern was elected president of the International Union of Socialist Youth in 2008. In 2008, when Labour suffered its first defeat in nine years, Ardern was elected as an MP for the first time. She was then selected to serve as the Mount Albert electorate’s representative in a by-election on February 25, 2017.
On March 1, 2017, Annette King resigned from her position as deputy leader of the Labour Party, and Ardern was picked as her successor by the entire party. When an election was about to be held five months later, Andrew Little, the leader of Labour, resigned because the party’s poll numbers were the lowest they had ever been. Then, with no challengers, Ardern was chosen as the new leader.
Support for Labour soared when Ardern was elected party leader. She led Labour to an increase of 14 seats at the general election on September 23, 2017, giving it 46 seats to the National Party’s 56. Following negotiations, New Zealand First decided to partner with Labour and the Green Party to establish a minority coalition government, led by Ardern.
On October 26, 2017, she took the oath of office from the governor general. At the age of 37, she was the youngest woman to lead a government in any country in the worldy, and Ardern was picked as her successor by the entire party. When an election was about to be held five months later, Andrew Little, the leader of Labour, resigned because the party’s poll numbers were the lowest they had ever been. Then, with no challengers, Ardern was chosen as the new leader. Support for Labour soared when Ardern was elected party leader. She led Labour to an increase of 14 seats at the general election on September 23, 2017, giving it 46 seats to the National Party’s 56. Following negotiations, New Zealand First decided to partner with Labour and the Green Party to establish a minority coalition government, led by Ardern. On October 26, 2017, she took the oath of office from the governor general. At the age of 37, she was the youngest woman to lead a government in any country in the world. On June 21, 2018, Ardern gave birth to her daughter, becoming the second elected leader in history to do so while in office (after Benazir Bhutto).
Ardern identifies as a social democrat and a progressive.
The Sixth Labour Government has had to cope with issues including social inequality, child poverty, and the lack of housing in New Zealand.
Following the massacres at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, in March 2019, Ardern swiftly implemented stringent gun legislation, which gained her a lot of notoriety. She oversaw the COVID-19 pandemic response for New Zealand in 2020.
Because New Zealand was one of the few Western nations able to stop the epidemic, she received acclaim for her efforts. In order to position the Labour Party for the general election in October 2020, Ardern shifted it in that direction. She further committed to reducing expenditure throughout the remaining COVID-19 slump.
With 65 more seats in Parliament than any other party, she led the Labour Party to a significant victory. Since the implementation of a proportional representation system in 1996, a majority government has not yet been constituted.
Jacinda Ardern Childhood and education
Jacinda Ardern was born on July 26, 1980, in Hamilton, New Zealand. She was raised in Morrinsville and Murupara, where her mother, Laurell Ardern (née Bottomley), worked as a school catering assistant and her father, Ross Ardern, was a police officer.
Ardern’s uncle, Ian S. Ardern, is a general authority in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often known as the LDS Church or the Mormon Church, where she was reared. She attended Morrinsville College, where she served as the student trustee’s representative. When she was still in school, she landed her first job at a fish and chip store.
Jacinda Ardern joined the Labour Party at the age of 17.
When Ardern was a teenager, she was invited to assist her aunt Marie Ardern, a devoted supporter of the Labour Party, in her effort to re-elect New Plymouth MP Harry Duynhoven in the 1999 general election.
Ardern attended the University of Waikato and earned a three-year specialized Bachelor of Communication Studies in politics and public relations. 2001 saw her graduate.
Jacinda Ardern studied for a semester at Arizona State University in 2001.
She worked as a researcher in Phil Goff and Helen Clark’s offices following her college graduation. After spending some time in New York City, where she worked on a campaign for workers’ rights and helped at a soup kitchen, Ardern relocated to London in 2006 and was hired as a senior policy consultant in the Cabinet Office’s (UK) 80-person policy section by British Prime Minister Tony Blair.
(While she was in London, she claimed that she “did not see Blair in person,” but at a 2011 event in New Zealand, she questioned him about the 2003 invasion of Iraq.) Ardern was also sent to the UK Home Office to help with an investigation into how the police work in England and Wales.
Jacinda Ardern Political Career
Beginning in 2008 and going forward, Ardern advanced steadily on the different Labour party lists. A summary of her time in political office is provided below.
Jacinda Ardern held the 20th spot from 2008 until 2011.
She held the thirteenth spot from 2011 until 2013.
She kept her fifth-place finish from 2014 to 2017.
She occupied the top rank from 2017 until 2020.
From the year 2020 until the present, she held the top spot.
In the general elections of 2011, she stood for the Labour Party and made an effort to win the Auckland Central seat, but she eventually fell short. She stood for the Labour Party in the general elections of 2014 and made another effort to capture the Auckland Central seat, but this time she lost by a narrower margin of just 600 votes. Ardern took part in the 2017 Women’s March, which took place on January 20th all around the world in opposition to Donald Trump.
In February 2017, Ardern ran again in the by-election for Mount Albert. She, however, triumphed with an overwhelming victory, receiving 77 percent of the total votes cast. Ardern was elected as the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party on March 7, 2017, and she earned all of the votes due to her numerous successes.
On August 1st of that year, Ardern was chosen to lead the Labour Party. In the general election that was held in September 2017, Ardern won 15,264 votes, which allowed her to keep control of the Mount Albert electorate. The Labour Party now has 46 total members in Parliament, which is the highest number since it was ousted from power in 2008. Jacinda Ardern was able to effectively take over as prime minister by joining forces with the New Zealand First Party.
Ardern guided the Labour Party to yet another spectacular victory in the general election conducted in 2020, this time by a landslide majority. In the House of Representatives, which has a total of 120 MPs, the Party won a majority of 65 seats. Furthermore, Mount Albert’s parliamentary district was maintained with a margin of 21,326 votes.