Chris Hipkins was sworn in as New Zealand's 41st prime minister on Wednesday following the resignation of Jacinda Ardern.
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"It's the greatest privilege and responsibility of my life," Hipkins, 44, said at a ceremony in the capital Wellington.
Hundreds of New Zealanders cheered Arden as she left Parliament on Wednesday. The 42-year-old progressive politician shocked the island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean last week when she announced her resignation as prime minister less than three years after winning a landslide election to secure her second term in office. Arden said that she no longer had "enough in the tank" after presiding over a deadly volcanic eruption, the Christchurch mosque shootings and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Hipkins earned praise for his role as minister in charge of fighting Covid. New Zealand sealed its borders during the pandemic, reopening them in August 2022. "Covid-19 and the global pandemic are at the root of a health crisis. Now this crisis is also economic, and it is on this point that my government is focused," he said.
Arden said that she will continue to serve in Parliament.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
