Wellington: Labor Party leader Chris Hipkins was sworn in as the 41st Prime Minister of New Zealand in a formal ceremony today.
New Zealand Governor General Cindy Kiro held a brief swearing-in ceremony in the presence of her friends and colleagues. “This is the greatest opportunity and responsibility of my life,” Chris Hipkins said at the swearing-in ceremony. I am preparing for the challenges ahead.
Apart from this, Carmel Sepuloni has also taken oath as the Deputy Prime Minister of the country. She is the first woman of Pacific Islander heritage to hold the post of Deputy Prime Minister. He thanked Hipkins for believing in him.
The Associated Press reported that the 44-year-old Hipkins pledged to focus on the economy, calling the country’s economy “an epidemic of inflation.”
He will be the Prime Minister of the country till the next general election, which is less than 9 months. Opinion polls show that the Labor Party is lagging behind the opposition Conservative Party.
Notably, Hipkins was chosen as the next Prime Minister after New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern resigned before the end of her term.
Jacinda Ardern hugged all the members of the parliament and left with emotion in the courtyard of the parliament. She then went to Government House to hand in her resignation to Governor-General Cindy Kiro.