Jacinda Ardern’s landslide election win gives her a mandate for the transformational change she has been promising New Zealand for three years, but the Covid-19 pandemic may limit what she can actually do.

The prime minister’s signature achievement in all but eliminating the new coronavirus from the Pacific island nation through strict lockdowns propelled her to victory on Saturday. But this approach may also hinder the recovery New Zealanders are hoping for and the progressive policies Ardern champions.

New Zealand had been free of community cases for more than 100 days until new infections emerged in Auckland in August.

Up early on Sunday, hours after delivering the biggest win in half a century for her centre-left Labour Party, Ardern was dealing with the pandemic again as a new infection sprang up, ending a two-week coronavirus-free run.

Read the full analysis by Reuters here.