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Sunday, September 06, 2020, 10:54
NZ election campaign starts, Ardern seeks mandate
By Reuters
Sunday, September 06, 2020, 10:54 By Reuters

Prime Minister of New Zealand Jacinda Ardern speaks to the media about changing the 2020 general election date during a press conference at the Parliament in Wellington on August 17, 2020. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on August 17 delayed New Zealand's looming election by four weeks to October 17 after a renewed coronavirus outbreak hampered campaigning. (PHOTO / AFP)

New Zealand’s general election campaign began on Sunday, as Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern seeks to ride popularity for the nation’s COVID-19 response and compassionate handling of a massacre at two mosques to a revived mandate.

Parliament was dissolved in a brief ceremony, the official start of campaigning for the Oct 17 election

Parliament was dissolved in a brief ceremony, the official start of campaigning for the Oct 17 election. In August, Ardern delayed the poll by a month as Auckland, with nearly a third of New Zealand’s 5 million people, was in lockdown due to a coronavirus resurgence.

ALSO READ: New Zealand's Ardern hits back at Trump over virus 'surge'

Ardern, who became the world’s youngest female leader in 2017, holds huge appeal after her decisive response to the pandemic and handling of last year’s shooting by a white supremacist at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand’s worst mass murder.

The most recent polls show her Labour Party has a strong lead over the conservative National Party. Advance voting will start on Oct 3.

READ MORE: New Zealand's Ardern postpones election as virus flares up

New Zealand has fared much better than most countries during the pandemic, but the Auckland outbreak has driven the number of confirmed and probable cases to 1,767 as of Saturday, with fatalities having risen to 24.

On Friday she extended the stage 2.5 alert level in Auckland to at least mid-September.


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