By Michelle Alles
Auckland (CWBN)_ Ahead of New Zealand’s polls on Saturday, CWBN features the main contenders as a part of its election coverage. Significantly, the two main candidates vying for the premiership, are women with very diverse personalities.
Jacinda Ardern
The darling of most New Zealanders and a role model for millions of women around the world, Jacinda Ardern has become the country’s most popular Prime Minister in a century according to opinion polls, attracting headlines for being the youngest to hold her office and for giving birth while leading a country.
During her three years in office, Ardern, the once small-town takeout store worker has been widely praised for her strong and compassionate leadership. She won the hearts of the nation for her empathetic handling of the Christchurch mosque attacks, and recently her swift, effective action against the COVID-19 pandemic, the results of which, according to global business leaders, have been the best in the world. However, her critics say that Ardern has not done enough during her term to combat poverty and achieve other policies she proposed before being elected PM.
Ardern is mother to 2-year-old Neve Te Aroha Ardern Gayford, along with her partner Clarke Gayford, who is a supportive and down to earth father with a penchant for fishing. In a world full of dramatic world leaders seen as corrupt and selfish, Ardern is a breath of fresh air that blows through the political arena on a global scale.
Judith Collins
Judith Collins is the Opposition Leader and Leader of the New Zealand National Party. A veteran politician who has pulled no punches with her direct and steely demeanor after being thrust into the role a few months before the election, she counts Hillary Clinton and Margaret Thatcher among her list of political heroes. Judith earned the nickname ‘Crusher’ for her policy regarding the cars of illegal street racers during her early years in parliament.
Collins’ parents are farmers and she grew up in the rural region of Waikato. The youngest in a family of six, she read for her Masters in Law and Taxation from Auckland University where she met her future husband, a fellow law student named David Wong Tung. The couple have a son.
Collins, with her tough-talking reputation, claims ‘competence’ in her bid for PM over Ardern, but convincing an electorate that has applauded the current PM over the COVID-19 measures that saved the island nation has presented something of a challenge for the 61-year-old politician.
On the whole, the run up to the election between the two candidates has been very peaceful. There have been very few reports of name-calling, in stark contrast to the toxic atmosphere surrounding the upcoming US polls, the results of which are awaited by the whole world.
Ardern prevailed in the final debate before the election and in a surprise admission, said she would resign as the leader of the Labour party if their victory was not secured on Saturday. Collins has had a difficult week, but is still confident of a win, and there are murmurings among her party that she will not retain her leadership role if her party loses.
Both candidates are hopeful of halving child poverty by 2030, New Zealand having one of the worst rates of child poverty and infant mortality in the developed world.
Electoral System
The functioning Electoral System of New Zealand has been the Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system since 1996. One of the salient characteristics of the system is that it tends to produce coalition governments since a single political party could hardly secure an overall majority at the legislature. For the first time since the system was introduced, the Labour party may get the numbers to win outright and secure a majority of the 120 seats in parliament, making history in the island nation.
Edited by Elishya Perera
