New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern reelected in landslide victory [Video]

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a landslide victory on Saturday, successfully securing her second term in office.
• Ardern’s main challenger, National Party Leader Judith Collins, called to congratulate her and admitted it was a tough campaign.
• Ardern’s effective COVID-19 handling fueled her popularity that resulted in her reelection victory.

In a landslide victory on Saturday, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern successfully won her reelection bid.

As the official voting tally came, Ardern’s liberal Labour Party obtained 49 percent of the vote versus the 27 percent of the conservative National Party, its prime competitor.

In her victory address in front of Aukland supporters, Ardern said that her party had gotten massive support from the public now than at any period within the last five decades.

“This has not been an ordinary election, and it’s not an ordinary time. It’s been full of uncertainty and anxiety, and we set out to be an antidote to that,” she said. 

The reinstated prime minister pledged to continue her governance and serve for the welfare of all New Zealanders.

“We are living in an increasingly polarized world, a place where more and more, people have lost the ability to see one another’s point of view,” she said. “I think in this election, New Zealanders have shown that this is not who we are.”

Judith Collins, the National Party’s leader and Ardern’s top challenger, said that she made a call to the prime minister to send her congratulations.

“It is an outstanding result for the Labour Party… It has been a tough campaign,” she said during her address with her supporters, adding that her party would come back again to challenge the Labour party on the next occasion.

According to Labour Minister David Parker, the party overwhelmingly won the elections.

“It’s a tremendous accolade first and foremost to the prime minister, but also to the wider Labour team and the Labour movement,” he said.

From two weeks leading to the election, a record number of voters had their early voting.

Since the country imposed a proportional voting system more than 2 decades ago, no party was able to obtain majority seats in Parliament until the Labour Party’s remarkable win over the weekend.

Ardern was treated like a “rock star” during the course of her campaign trail ━ people in malls and streets get ecstatic when they chance upon her and some people even asked for selfies with her.

As she gave birth last year while leading the country, Ardern became a role model across working mothers worldwide. 

Earlier this year, her popularity significantly rose following her stellar performance in blocking the spread of the coronavirus pandemic in New Zealand. As of the present, the country has zero cases of COVID-19 infection. New Zealanders enjoyed having no restrictions such as community quarantine, social distancing, and the wearing of any face coverings.

Many people saw her as the opposite of US President Donald Trump.

Source: Fox News