New Zealand's Ardern kicks off election campaign after taming virus

New Zealand's Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is riding high in opinion polls after her leadership through the Christchurch mosque attacks, the White Island volcanic eruption and the coronavirus pandemic. /AFP

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern on Saturday launched her re-election campaign promising a "laser-like" focus on boosting jobs and economic growth hit by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The charismatic 40-year-old leader is on track for a comfortable victory in the Sept. 19 election, topping 60 percent in the latest surveys following her leadership through the Christchurch mosque attacks, the White Island volcanic eruption and the pandemic, according to opinion polls.

In a country of five million people, New Zealand has had only 22 COVID-19 deaths and it has been 99 days since the last recorded case of infection from an unknown source.

"When people ask, is this a COVID(-19) election, my answer is yes, it is," Ardern said as she launched the campaign with a 311 million New Zealand dollar (205 million U.S. dollar) pledge to boost jobs.

Labour is the senior partner in a three-party coalition government but if it can maintain the support shown in recent opinion polls, where it has consistently been above 50 percent, it could govern alone after the election.

The centerpiece of Labour's campaign is to support businesses in hiring at least 40,000 people whose employment has been affected by the coronavirus.

It pledged to expand existing job schemes to help employers hire staff at risk of long-term unemployment.

It will also help out-of-work New Zealanders start a business through an expanded self-employment program which will provide the equivalent of the minimum wage for up to 30 hours a week.

"If you had told me then that our launch in 2020 would be in the midst of a global pandemic with our borders closed – I would have found that very hard to fathom," she said.

Ardern's stratospheric rise in 2017 to become New Zealand's youngest prime minister and third woman to hold the office has been dubbed "Jacinda-mania" by some.

(With input from AFP and Reuters)