Ardern Postpones Election As Covid-19 Flares Up

New Zealand's prime minister postponed Monday's general election to October 17, as the city of Auckland remains in lockdown due to a new coronavirus outbreak.

Jacinda Ardern was under pressure to postpone the polls, as political parties said it was impossible to campaign in a way that would ensure a free and fair election, reports Reuters.

"Ultimately, the 17th of October ... provides sufficient time for parties to plan around the range of circumstances we will be campaigning under," Ardern said at a news conference.

She rules out any more pause in the elections, since her Labor Party holds a clear leading advantage over the Conservative National Party in the opinion polls.

"We are all in the same boat. We are all campaigning in the same environment," Ardern said.

Early elections are in Ardern 's favor, as her performance in stifling Covid-19 and holding the nation virus free for 102 days before the new epidemic has enhanced her reputation.

The election was set for September 19 and New Zealand law mandates it to be completed by November 21. Advance voting will begin on October 3.

Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who had called for a delay, said "common sense has prevailed."

The chief of the nationalist New Zealand First Party turned over the leadership to Labour in a bipartisan agreement after neither one secured a mandate in the 2017 election.

Ardern 's opponents accuse her of using the pandemic to shore up support, as she appears almost every day on TV to reassure New Zealanders, while other party leaders struggle to get attention.

Her rivals are hoping Ardern loses some of her appeal once economic hardships caused by the lockdown begin to bite.

With a population of 5 million, New Zealand was far better off than most countries during the pandemic. But the sudden resurgence of Covid-19 in Auckland last week led to a lockdown, and there is growing suspicion that the source of the spread was a quarantine facility.

On Friday, Ardern expanded the lockout to Auckland's 1.7 million people until August 26, and informal isolation restrictions remain in effect in other towns and cities. There are 69 active cases in that country.

"Right now the focus must be on finding out exactly what failed so catastrophically at the border so we can be sure it won’t happen again," National Party leader Judith Collins said on Twitter.