<div style="text-align: justify; "><b style="font-size: 1rem;">Jacinda Ardern has announced she will quit as New Zealand prime minister next month, saying she no longer has "enough in the tank" to lead.</b><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">Ms Ardern choked up as she detailed how six "challenging" years in the job had taken a toll.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She will step down as Labour Party leader no later than 7 February. There will be a vote in the coming days to determine her replacement.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">New Zealand will hold a general election on 14 October.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Ardern, 42, said she had taken time to consider her future over the summer break.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I had hoped that I would find what I needed to carry on over that period but, unfortunately, I haven't, and I would be doing a disservice to New Zealand to continue," she told reporters.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Ardern became the youngest female head of government in the world when she was elected prime minister in 2017, aged 37.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">And a year later she became the second elected world leader to ever give birth while in office.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">She steered New Zealand through the Covid-19 pandemic and its ensuing recession, the Christchurch mosque shootings, and the White Island volcanic eruption.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"It's one thing to lead your country through peace time, it's another to lead them through crisis," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"These events... have been taxing because of the weight, the sheer weight and continual nature of them. There's never really been a moment where it's ever felt like we were just governing."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Ardern led the Labour Party to a landslide election victory in 2020, but her domestic popularity has declined to new lows in recent months, according to opinion polls.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">However Ms Ardern said she was not resigning because she believed Labour could not win the election, but because she thought it would.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"We need a fresh set of shoulders for that challenge," she said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Deputy leader Grant Robertson said he would not contest the leadership vote, which will occur on Sunday. If one candidate cannot garner the support of two-thirds of the party room, the vote will go to Labour's lay membership.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese paid tribute to Ms Ardern as a leader of intellect, strength and empathy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Jacinda has been a fierce advocate for New Zealand, an inspiration to so many and a great friend to me," he wrote on Twitter.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Ms Ardern listed her government's achievements on climate change, social housing and reducing child poverty as ones she was particularly proud of.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">But she said she hoped New Zealanders would remember her "as someone who always tried to be kind".</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I hope I leave New Zealanders with a belief that you can be kind, but strong, empathetic but decisive, optimistic but focused. And that you can be your own kind of leader - one who knows when it's time to go," she said. BBC</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>