Global Media Outlets React to Jacinda Ardern’s Win

Jacinda Ardern will serve a second term as New Zealand prime minister following Labour’s landslide victory in an election on 17 October, which delivered a major shift towards progressive parties, Jamie Smith reports for the UK’s Financial Times. Bloomberg, The Washington Post and Die Zeit correspondents were amongst other news outlets covering the decisive win.

Labour has won almost 50 per cent of the vote compared to 26.8 per cent for the opposition National party – a result that could allow the party to form the first majority government in the Pacific nation since 1996, Smith writes for the FT.

The resounding victory follows a Labour campaign that focused on Ardern’s strong and empathetic leadership during a series of crises, including Covid-19 and the murder of 51 Muslims in Christchurch by a far-right extremist in 2019, he continues.

“Tonight New Zealand has shown the Labour party its biggest support in 50 years . . . “It is clear that Labour will lead the government for the next three years,” Ardern told cheering supporters in Auckland.

Bloomberg correspondents write: “Ardern, 40, has captured the hallowed centre ground in New Zealand politics with a blend of empathetic leadership and skilled crisis management that has also won her fame abroad. Her successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated those strengths, drowning out criticism that she hasn’t delivered on some key promises during her first term in office.”

Emanuel Stoakes from The Washington Post reports:

“[Ardern’s] embrace of international cooperation and pan-national issues, including climate change, earned her the nickname ‘the anti-Trump’ among her supporters.”

German newspaper Die Zeit also covers the win, with political scientist Michael Bröning writing an earlier opinion piece on Ardern and the Labour party.

Original articles by Jamie Smith, Financial Times; Tracey Withers and Ainsley Thomson, Bloomberg; Emanuel Stoakes, The Washington Post, October 18, 2020.