Next month, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern will leave her position

Prior to this year's election, Jacinda Ardern declared she would step down as prime minister of New Zealand, claiming she no longer has "enough in the tank" to do so.

As she explained how six "difficult" years in the position had taken a toll, Ms. Ardern cried up. On Sunday, Labor Party lawmakers will vote to elect her successor. The shocking news comes as polls show the party's chances of winning re-election on October 14 are slim.

Ms. Ardern, 42, claimed that during the summer break she had given some thought to her future in order to find the passion and vigor to continue in the position. By February 7, Ms. Ardern will exit from her position. The vote will be cast by Labor's lay membership if no candidate for successor receives the backing of two-thirds of the party room.

When Ms. Ardern was 37 she won the 2017 election for prime minister, she made history as the world's youngest female head of state. And a year later, after Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto in 1990, she became the second elected world leader to give birth while in office. She guided New Zealand through the White Island volcano eruption, the Christchurch mosque massacres, and the Covid-19 outbreak and recession that followed.