New Zealand’s justice minister has resigned after being arrested for reckless driving

New Zealand Justice Minister Kiri Allan she resigned on Monday after being charged with reckless driving and resisting arrest after causing a road accident in Wellington last night.

Allan, who spent about four hours in police custody, expressed his wish to “resign immediately” and take time to consider “his future in politics,” New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins said in a statement.

The president spoke to Allan this morning to “accept” his resignation. “I don’t think I’m in a position to hold a ministerial position,” Hipkins said, emphasizing how considers it “unsustainable that the Minister of Justice has been accused of a criminal offense” and continue in the office.

The 37-year-old former minister also exceeded the legal limit during a breathalyzer test, although police did not charge her with that crime, Hipkins said.

The Prime Minister said that this was an incident”.unforgivable“, although he also pointed out that politics has recently been going through a series of problems that have affected his “mental health”

“The best thing for Kiri at the moment is to focus on his family and his welfare away from parliament,” said Hipkins, who is expected to announce a replacement in the justice portfolio today.

The lawyer of Maori origin was also in charge of the ministries of regional development, conservation and management in emergency situations, and in 2021 she overcame cervical cancer.

Allan is the fourth person to resign since March to a ministerial position in the Hipkins administration, which wants to remain in office in the general election scheduled for October 14.