Status: 01/25/2023 01:28 am
Chris Hipkins has been sworn in as New Zealand’s new Prime Minister. The successor to the popular Ardern said he wanted to keep his focus on the economy and the fight against inflation.
New Zealand has a new Prime Minister. Chris Hipkins was sworn in on Wednesday (local time) to succeed Jacinda Ardern, who surprisingly announced her resignation last week after more than five years in office.
He took his oath of office before Governor General Cindy Kiro, who had previously formally accepted Ardern’s resignation.
Hipkins has promised a policy that should get back to basics. The 44-year-old explained that his main focus was on the economy and the “pandemic of inflation”.
Parliamentary elections in October
A new parliament will be elected in New Zealand in October and its Labor Party is currently trailing the Conservative opposition in polls. So Hipkins has less than nine months to turn the tide. Under Ardern, Hipkins served as Secretary of Education and Secretary of Police.
At the height of the corona pandemic, he acted as a crisis manager and was thus able to sharpen his profile. But he and other Labor politicians have long been overshadowed by Ardern, who has risen to become a globally respected icon of the left with her political style, which has been praised as refreshing and hands-on.