New Zealand has finally elected a Prime Minister following an announcement on Thursday by Winston Peters, the leader of the NZ First Party, that he would back Jacinda Ardern and the center-left Labour Party in a Coalition Government. This followed a month of uncertainty regarding who would lead the island nation following a hung Parliament.

What led to Ardern becoming Prime Minister?

At the start of the August Labour Party leader Andrew Little resigned due to the party's poor polling performance. This led to the party caucus unanimously electing Jacinda Ardern, who was deputy leader, to replace him.

With Ardern at the helm, Labour surged in the polls. New Zealand's press coined the term “Jacindamania” to describe how people, especially youth, suddenly flocked to the party.

Last month's September election in the country returned a hung parliament as Prime Minister Bill English's ruling center-right National Party led Ardern's Labour Party 46 percent to 35.8 percent. However, this was not enough for English's party to create a government by itself, so they need a form a coalition government with another party.

The top two options for English were the New Zealand First Party, which came in third with 7.5 percent and the Green Party, which came in fourth place with 5.9 percent. The Green Party supported a coalition with Labour, but this was still not enough to put either of the top parties in power.

Peters makes television announcement

This left Peters to choose which party he would form a coalition with, National or Labour, and he took about a month to make the decision. Peters made the announcement via a TV broadcast, without first informing English or Ardern of his choice, saying the public deserved to know first. He announced the NZ First Party would join the Greens in the coalition with Labour, giving the three-party coalition 61 of 120 seats in parliament.

Who is Jacinda Ardern?

Following the announcement by Peters, the 37-year-old Ardern said that it is an “absolute privilege and honor....to form a government for all New Zealanders.” She is now the world's youngest serving female leader and the third female Prime Minister of New Zealand, joining Jenny Shipley (1997-99) and Helen Clark (1999-2008).

Ardern is also the second youngest PM in the history of the country, being 45 days older than Edward Stafford was in 1856.

According to CNN, Ardern is a former DJ and lapsed Mormon who has been a member of the Labour Party since she was 17. In 2008 she was elected to Parliament, serving the Mt. Albert region, and was re-elected to a third term this February. At the time of her election in 2008, she was the country's youngest sitting MP at age 28.
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