
AMN / WEB DESKI
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, has postponed the country’s general election by a month after the reemergence of coronavirus cases in the country last week.
The vote was due to take place on 19 of September but will now be held on 17 October instead. At a live-streamed media conference today, Ms Ardern said that the new date would allow parties to plan around the range of circumstances they will be campaigning under.
Earlier this week, the country’s largest city went back into lockdown. Restrictions were imposed on Auckland last week after a number of new infection cases were identified in the city.
Prime Minister Arden said, the decision to postpone elections gives all parties time over the next nine weeks to campaign and the Electoral Commission enough time to ensure the polls can go ahead. Ms Ardern added that she has absolutely no intention of allowing any further delays to the vote.
The opposition National Party of the country had argued for the delay in election saying restrictions on campaigning meant Prime Minister Ardern had an unfair advantage.
The announcement that new cases had been discovered shocked the country, which had recorded no locally transmitted cases of COVID-19 for more than three months.