New Zealand PM Jacinda Ardern launches re-election campaign, promises jobs

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on August 8 launched her re-election campaign where she promised to boost the economy by offering cash incentives to businesses in order to encourage them to hire more people. Jacinda Ardern is comfortably ahead of her opponents as per the opinion polls and is likely to win the upcoming election, which is scheduled to take place on September 19. The 40-year-old liberal leader has garnered a lot of praise for her handling of the coronavirus pandemic, both internally and from the international community, which makes her the frontrunner in the race. 

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Flexi-wage scheme

Jacinda Ardern during the launch of Labour Party's re-election campaign promised a $205.32 million scheme that would see businesses receive $7,500 on average to hire more people. Jacinda said that if her party wins the September 19 vote, she will bring what she calls the new Flexi-wage scheme, which is expected to help businesses recover from the COVID-19 shutdown and 40,000 Kiwis to get a job. New Zealand has reopened its economy after the COVID-19 lockdown as it has not reported a transmission for nearly 100 days now. 

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Jacinda Ardern during the launch event spoke about issues ranging from her rise to the highest seat in the country to her handling of the mass shooting at Christchurch mosques in 2019, the White Island volcanic eruption, and the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. Jacinda, who rose to power in 2017 to become the youngest Prime Minister of New Zealand, said that she wouldn't have been able to digest if someone would have told her in 2017 that the 2020 re-election launch would take place in midst of a pandemic. 

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(Image Credit: AP)