New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern takes part in the Waitangi Day dawn service, serving up a barbecue breakfast. The prime minister was among the many to gather at Waitangi before sunrise as part of commemorations on the 180th anniversary of the Treaty of Waitangi’s signing

• Jacinda Ardern serves up barbecue breakfast after Waitangi Day dawn service

Vote on 19 September will also see referendums on legalising euthanasia and recreational marijuana

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has announced her country’s next general election will be held on 19 September, firing the starting pistol on a campaign race lasting more than seven months.

On Tuesday, Ardern said the forthcoming election campaign would be “positive, factual and robust”, and that her party had signed up to Facebook’s advertising transparency tool to counter misinformation.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announces the next general election will be held on 19 September and promises a transparent campaign free of misinformation. She says Labour has signed up to Facebook's advertising transparency tool, adding: 'New Zealanders deserve freedom from misinformation and some of the negative style of campaigning that we have seen take place overseas in the past.' Ardern says Labour will also have its major policy costings independently verified.

She says Labour has run 'a strong economy with low unemployment and growth rates that others look to with envy, outstripping countries we often compare ourselves to, like Australia and the UK while making critical investments in health and education and reducing child poverty.'

• New Zealand election: Jacinda Ardern sets September date for poll

In 2019, politics was dominated by spin doctors PR professionals and talented communicators while a ‘Year of Delivery’ failed to do just that

Style isn’t always a bad thing in politics. There is a lot to be said for a politician who can channel emotions and values in a way that salves the soul or mobilises the masses. That’s the type of powerful leadership that makes history. Jacinda Ardern has been an exceptional world leader in this way. In 2019 the New Zealand PM responded to the 15 March terrorist attacks with an emotional and thoughtful response that was a lesson in leadership.

Understandably Ardern’s strong and appropriate statements made her the “politician of the year” in nearly every political pundit’s end-of-year summary. Similarly her pronouncement about the Muslim victims that “They are us” was clearly the quote of the year.