2020 election: David Seymour criticizes Jacinda Ardern’s lack of social distancing in campaign selfies

It all started with a selfie and now the prime minister has been accused of breaking the rules.

Union leader Jacinda Ardern took a photo this week with a crowd of Massey University students during the election campaign in Manawatū.

It is that selfie that has led to the Prime Minister being accused of “breaking” the social distancing rules that she asked New Zealanders to abide by.

ACT leader David Seymour criticized Ardern on Saturday, saying New Zealanders would ask if she was part of the five million team after she “clearly disobeyed the rules that she asked us to live by.”

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In a statement, Seymour said hospitality companies were going bankrupt at alert level 2 due to single-server and social distancing rules.

“Meanwhile, the person in charge of the rules is breaking them. Small business owners will be incredibly angry. “

The country is currently under level 2 restrictions, with Auckland at level 2.5. Although gatherings are restricted to just 10 people in Auckland, excluding funerals, for the rest of the country it is capped at 100.

At level 2, kiwis are asked to keep a distance of 2 meters when in public and 1 meter when in “controlled environments” such as a cafe.

On Thursday, Ardern was in Palmerston North, where he visited the food innovation sites Food HQ and Food Pilot at Massey University, and an apartment development site from Isles Construction.

The controversial ‘selfie’ photo was taken with a group of Ardern fans while visiting the university.

In response to Seymour’s criticism, an Ardern spokesman said the prime minister asks members of the public to keep an adequate distance when interacting and taking photos.

“There are a number of handshakes and hugs that you unfortunately have to decline and best efforts are made to stay apart when people ask for photos, but often members of the public get very close to the prime minister, which is difficult to control. “.

Earlier this week, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said that the Covid-19 restrictions created a difficult campaign environment.

“It is the worst campaign environment that I have ever been involved in because, it is not only in the cold months of the year, but it is in circumstances where people cannot meet, cannot meet in corridors and there cannot be a dialogue. traditional politician. But we will manage and continue to do what we can in the circumstances. “

National leader Judith Collins also told the media that campaigning this year “certainly has its challenges,” but there were also opportunities.

She said they were using social media more and were using a lot more opportunities to speak through the media.

While campaigning on the South Island this month, Collins was photographed hugging a baby who also tried to suck on her hand.