New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced that she will step down by Feb. 7. She has governed for 5½ years as prime minister and she is out of energy. She said she does not have “enough in the tank” to do the job ahead of an election later this year.

“I know what this job takes, and I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice,” Ms. Ardern said Thursday. “But I absolutely believe and know there are others around me who do.”

My first thought was that this is good news for the average freedom-loving person in New Zealand. Ardern has governed as an authoritarian tyrant, often looking out of control during the coronavirus pandemic. She locked down the entire country of New Zealand because of one case of COVID-19. One case. She encouraged people to turn in their neighbors to police if they were seen talking to people outside. She is a gun grabber, especially after the mass shooting in a Christchurch mosque in 2019.

Interestingly enough, her party is less popular with voters than the opposition party but Ardern is the most popular of political leaders.

Opinion polls have shown Ms. Ardern’s center-left Labour Party trailing the opposition National party, although her own standing with voters was higher than other political leaders. Results of one survey released last month by 1 News Kantar showed support for Labour had fallen to 33%, from 41% around a year earlier. National topped that poll with 38%.

Ardern said she is proud of what she has accomplished, citing “progress on responding to climate change, addressing child poverty, easing access to education, improving worker conditions and dealing with issues of national identity.”

The election will be held on October 14.

In August 2017, she became leader of the New Zealand Labour Party. In October 2017, at age 37, became the country’s youngest prime minister in more than 150 years.

She spoke to a New Zealand Labour party caucus on Thursday, in a speech described as “emotional”. She said: “I know what this job takes. And I know that I no longer have enough in the tank to do it justice. It’s that simple.”

“I am human, politicians are human. We give all that we can for as long as we can. And then it’s time. And for me, it’s time,”

She added that she had taken the decision after months of deliberation, and hoped to spend more time with her family following October’s elections.

The PM addressed members of her own family during the tearful address, including a moment where she told her fiancé Clarke Gayford: “let’s finally get married”

A statement from the Prime Minister’s office released after her speech said “holding such a privileged role comes responsibility, including the responsibility to know when you’re the right person to lead, and also when you’re not.”

Perhaps she will be a politician who truly does resign to spend more time with her family.