WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was sworn in for a second term on Friday as final election results showed her landslide victory was even bigger than predicted.
Ardern and her ministers, who were appointed earlier this week, took their oaths of office in English and Maori during a ceremony at Wellington’s Government House. Arden appointed Nanaia Mahuta as minister of foreign affairs making her the nation’s first indigenous woman to hold the position.
“I would say simply that sitting at this table is Aotearoa New Zealand,” Ardern said, using the Maori term for her country, gesturing at her 20-strong team, including eight women and Maori, which she had previously described as incredibly diverse.
“There are significant challenges for us to overcome together, but I am confident we have the team to do it and it is great to be officially able to now crack on with it,” Ardern said. “They collectively represent a range of different perspectives, huge talent, enormous experience and as you would expect in any time of crisis, a huge commitment to serving this country.”
Ardern has leveraged her success battling COVID-19 into an unprecedented majority at the country election, leading her centre-left Labour Party to its biggest win since World War II despite having to delay the poll when cases suddenly spiked.
Final results released on Friday showed Ardern won 50 percent of the vote, up from 49 percent on election night, giving her 65 seats in the 120-strong parliament, one more than initially expected.
The Maori Party, representing the Indigenous community that makes up about 15 percent of the population, picked up an additional seat to secure two representatives in the new parliament.
New Zealanders also voted in referendums on the recreational use marijuana and euthanasia. Final results showed a slim 50.7 percent majority voted against cannabis use, while nearly two-thirds backed legislation allowed terminally-ill people to end their lives subject to certain safeguards.
Ardern said she had a clear mandate for reform, although her priorities would be containing COVID-19 and rebuilding the economy. The pandemic is one of a string of emergencies that tested Ardern’s leadership during a challenging first term after she rode to an unexpected victory in 2017.
She displayed empathy and decisive action on gun control after a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshippers in the Christchurch mosque attacks last year. Ardern was criticised during her first term for failing to deliver on key promises such as improving housing affordability, protecting the environment and reducing child poverty.
