Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon, New Zealand's Jacinda Ardern: Leaders who shocked the world by resigning

Paris: Scotland's Nicola Sturgeon is not the first leader to take the world by surprise by resigning suddenly.

Here are three other leaders, and one pope, who created shockwaves by bowing out:

2023: Jacinda Ardern

New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, a global figurehead of progressive politics, stunned the country on 19 January 2023, when she announced she would resign.

The 42-year-old — who steered the country through natural disasters, the COVID pandemic, and its worst-ever terror attack — said she no longer had "enough in the tank".

"I am human. We give as much as we can for as long as we can and then it's time. And for me, it's time," she told her Labour Party. She was replaced days later by Chris Hipkins.

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Jacinda Ardern, who steered the country through natural disasters, the COVID pandemic, and its worst-ever terror attack, said she no longer had ‘enough in the tank’ when she resigned. AFP

Since the 2020 peak of "Jacindamania", Ardern's government had struggled — its popularity hampered by soaring inflation, a looming recession and a resurgent conservative Opposition.

2016: John Key

Seven years earlier, another popular New Zealand prime minister announced his resignation on 5 December 2016. John Key said he had never been a career politician and it was the right time to go after eight years in the job.

The 55-year-old former Merrill Lynch currency trader called it "the hardest decision I've ever made".

Opinion polls had consistently pointed to the down-to-earth politician becoming the first leader in New Zealand history to win four consecutive elections in polls scheduled for the following year.

He won plaudits for his leadership during a string of crises in his first term, including an earthquake in Christchurch in February 2011 which claimed 185 lives.

2013: Pope Benedict XVI

Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, become the first pope since 1415 to give up the job as head of the Catholic Church.

"The strength of mind and body... has deteriorated in me to the extent that I have had to recognise my incapacity to adequately fulfil the ministry," the 85-year-old said in an announcement delivered to cardinals in Latin.

Pope Benedict XVI on 28 February 2013, become the first pope since 1415 to give up the job as head of the Catholic Church. File image/AFP

A brilliant theologian, his papacy was beset by Vatican in-fighting and scandals over clerical sexual abuse of children that rocked the Catholic Church and saw him criticised for a lack of leadership.

He was replaced by Pope Francis and died on 31 December, 2022.

1976: Harold Wilson

The British Labour leader's resignation on 16 March, 1976, caused a political sensation, coming just over two years into his fourth stint as prime minister, and five days after his 60th birthday.

"I have not wavered in this decision and it is irrevocable," said Wilson.

He had been Labour leader for 13 years and prime minister for nearly eight, taking over for a second time in February 1974 at a time of deep internal divisions within the party and in a country buffeted by strikes.

He oversaw a referendum on Britain's continued membership of the European Community, the forerunner to the European Union, before bowing out, handing over to his Labour Party colleague James Callaghan.

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