WELLINGTON, Jan 22 (NNN-XINHUA) – The New Zealand Labour Party has confirmed Chris Hipkins as the party’s new leader and New Zealand’s 41st Prime Minister, said Chris Hipkins, in a press conference today.
The Labour Party caucus, meeting today, voted Caucus member, Minister for Education, Police and Public Service and Leader of the House, Chris Hipkins, as the new party leader. Hipkins was the only nominee to replace Jacinda Ardern, who announced her resignation on Thursday.
Member of Parliament for Kelston and Cabinet minister, Carmel Sepuloni, was appointed deputy prime minister.
According to the New Zealand political system, the majority party of the Parliament, forms the government and that party leader becomes the prime minister.
Speaking at the press conference after the Caucus meeting, Hipkins said, he will be officially sworn in as Prime Minister on Wednesday. Cabinet reshuffle will also be arranged in the coming week.
He vowed to focus on domestic issues, saying that, high inflation, high housing prices and law and order issue, will be the major policy focus for his government, while going to China would be high on the priority list but not locking in any international travel plans yet.
Ardern announced on Thursday that she will step down as the prime minister and the leader of the Labour Party in Feb, and she will not be seeking re-election this year.
New Zealand’s 2023 general election will be held on Oct 14, Ardern said.– NNN-XINHUA
