New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was sworn in for a second term.
Wellington, New Zealand:
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was sworn in for a second term on Friday, as final election results showed her landslide victory was even greater than previously thought.
The charismatic leader and her ministers took their oaths in English and Maori during a ceremony at Government House in Wellington.
“I’d just say sitting at this table is Aotearoa New Zealand,” Ardern said, pointing to his assembled team, in which women and Maori are heavily represented.
“They collectively represent a variety of different perspectives, great talent, enormous experience and, as you would expect in any time of crisis, a great commitment to serve this country.”
Ardern, 40, built on his success fighting Covid-19 by an unprecedented majority in the Oct. 17 election, leading his center-left Labor Party to its biggest victory since World War II.
Final results released on Friday showed Ardern won 50% of the vote, down from 49% on election night, giving him 65 seats in the 120-member parliament, instead of 64.
The main opposition National Party saw its seats reduced from 35 to 33, prompting campaign manager Gerry Brownlee to resign as deputy leader of the party.
Ardern said he had a clear mandate for reform, although his priorities were to contain Covid-19 and rebuild the virus-damaged economy.
‘Incrementalist’ reform
The pandemic is one of a series of emergencies that put Ardern’s leadership to the test during a torrid first term, after he claimed an unexpected victory in the 2017 polls thanks to a wave of support dubbed “Jacinda-mania.”
She showed empathy and decisive action on gun control after a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshipers in the attack on Christchurch mosques last year.
Ardern once again found himself comforting a shocked nation when a volcanic eruption on White Island, also known as Whakaari, killed 21 people and left dozens more with horrific burns.
Although praised for her crisis management, Ardern was criticized during her first term for failing to deliver on key promises such as improving housing affordability, protecting the environment and reducing child poverty.
Since the election, Ardern has signaled that he wants reform, but not at a pace that would alienate centrist voters who switched their support for the Labor Party in the elections.
“We must make sure that we represent everyone who elected us, be it city seats, rural seats, general seats or Maori seats,” he told reporters on Friday.
She had signaled actions on infrastructure projects, including increasing state housing and more renewable energy, as well as a determination to tackle issues like climate change, poverty and inequality.
Edward Elder, a professor who specializes in political communication at the University of Auckland, said Ardern is likely to take an “incrementalist” approach to reform.
“It really depends on what the Labor government believes it can implement to create long-term change, rather than going overboard, facing a backlash and having National come in after 2023 and just reverse all of its decisions,” he told AFP.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a syndicated feed.)
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