Chris Hipkins; the education minister of New Zealand, is poised to succeed Jacinda Ardern as the leader of the country after no other candidates entered the contest.
The support of Mr. Hipkins’ (44-year-old) Labour Party peers in Parliament is still required on Sunday, but it is now merely a formality.
After serving as prime minister for five and a half years, Ardern abruptly announced her resignation on Thursday, shocking the five million people who live in the country.
The absence of other candidates suggested that party legislators had sided with Mr. Hipkins in order to prevent a protracted election and any indication of division in the wake of Ms. Ardern’s departure.
Mr Hipkins will have less than eight months in the role before contesting a general election. Opinion polls have indicated that Labour is trailing the main opponent, the conservative National Party.
But he and other liberals have long been in the shadow of Ms Ardern, who became a global icon of the left and exemplified a new style of leadership.
Just 37 when she became leader, Ms Ardern was praised around the world for her handling of the nation’s worst-ever mass shooting and the early stages of the pandemic.
But she faced mounting political pressures at home and a level of vitriol from some that previous New Zealand leaders had not faced.
Fighting back tears, Ms Ardern told reporters on Thursday that she was leaving the role no later than February 7th.
“I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It is that simple,” she said.