Jacinda Ardern- A leader with good decisions, smiles and popular votes

In 2017, at the age of 37, Jacinda Ardern started making history as she took over the role of Prime Minister of New Zealand, etching her name in the records as world's youngest head of state. Now more than three years later, her approval ratings, respect and love received by locals (and people around the world) has only increased. 

But why? Read on...

As the country was put under a strict lockdown, the leader, who is known for her quick with and high emotion quotient, took to social media to connect with the locals. While on one hand she was busy meeting with the health experts to chalk out a plan of handling and eliminating the novel coronavirus, she still took out time to log on to her social media and talk to her fellow Kiwis. 

She also gave tutorials of how to wear face masks when stepping out, and also connected with parents by talking about problems parents are facing during a lockdown.

As the country was put under a strict lockdown, the leader, who is known for her quick with and high emotion quotient, took to social media to connect with the locals. While on one hand she was busy meeting with the health experts to chalk out a plan of handling and eliminating the novel coronavirus, she still took out time to log on to her social media and talk to her fellow Kiwis. 

She also gave tutorials of how to wear face masks when stepping out, and also connected with parents by talking about problems parents are facing during a lockdown.

After weeks of lockdown and endless meetings of the government, New Zealand became the first country to be declared as 'coronavirus free', and continues to stay that way till now. Under Ardern's careful leadership, the country soon returned back to their day-to-day activities and re-instated 'normal' in the country.

Ardern was applauded all over the world for her quick and effective response against a pandemic — with many people even wishing they had shifted to New Zealand when they had a chance.

During a Prime Minister debate between her and the (now defeated candidate) National party leader, Judith Collins, Jacinda Ardern admitted she has used cannabis, sending a wave of shock throughout the world.

While the issue was not her having consumed the product, what surprised people all around the world was a national leader openly admitting to it on national television.

Ardern's admission to the consumption of cannabis, however, did not do her much good politically as she refused to declare how she would vote in the cannabis referendum, for which her opponent had declared to vote against.

Ardern has also been praised for her careful, emotional and quick handling of the Christchurch shooting. After the horrifying 2019 shooting, Ardern left no stone unturned to make sure the victims get at least some compensation for going through this trauma. Within months of the shooting, the PM imposed a ban on sale of military-style semi-automatics and brought in several other small and local changes to make sure the minority groups are not targeted in any possible way. 

She also supported the decision taken by the court of giving life imprisonment without parole to Brenton Tarrant, a 29-year-old Australian, who pleaded guilty to 51 charges of murder, 40 counts of attempted murder and one charge of committing a terrorist act.

Jacinda Ardern has also made sure she fights against the running clock on climate change. Amid the pandemic, many countries slowed down their race against climate change. However, Ardern decided to impose a complete blanket ban on plastic bags and is now working on banning all single-use plastic products such as meat trays, cups and takeaway food containers.

Her administration also came up with a plan to tax farmers for their emissions from 2025.

She has also lashed out at Greta Thunberg for suggesting — and wrongly accusing New Zealand — that the country has not done 'enough' to fight against the climate change.

The young leader has also decided to add about climate change activism and eco-anxiety in the curriculum of children aged 11-14 years.

Jacinda Ardern became one of the few leaders to make a public commitment to end period poverty and decided to provide free access to sanitary products to everyone in the schools. 

"By making them freely available, we support these young people to continue learning at school," she said."We know that nearly 95,000 nine-to-eighteen year olds may stay at home during their periods due to not being able to afford period products."

Despite the White Island (Whakaari) tragedy where a volcanic explosion on remote White Island claimed 21 lives, Ardern won a second term in the Prime Minister office by getting a landslide victory in the 2020 elections. 

Her win is credited to her quick response to the COVID-19 pandemic and her emotionally intelligent steps to tackle the Chrsitchurch shooting tragedy.