Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced his intention to resign as leader of the ruling Liberal Party on Monday but confirmed that he would continue in his role as prime minister until a new leader is appointed.

“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust .. process,” Trudeau said while addressing a press conference outside Rideau Cottage in Ottawa on Monday.

“I cannot be the one to carry the liberal standard into the next election.”

The Canadian PM took over as Liberal leader in 2013 when the party was in deep trouble and had been reduced to third place in the House of Commons for the first time.

Trudeau, 53, had been able to fend off Liberal legislators worried about the polls and the loss of safe seats in two special elections.

But calls for him to step aside have grown since December, when Trudeau tried to demote Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland, one of his closest cabinet allies, after she pushed back against his proposals for more spending.

The resignation was expected, according to media reports. A source told Reuters after the Globe and Mail reported that Trudeau was expected to announce as early as Monday that he would quit as leader of Canada’s ruling Liberal Party after nine years in office.

Trudeau’s departure would leave the party without a permanent head at a time when polls show the Liberals will badly lose to the official opposition Conservatives in an election that must be held by late October.

An increasing number of Liberal parliamentarians, alarmed by a series of gloomy polls, have publicly urged Trudeau to quit.

“If I have one regret, particularly as we approach this election — well, probably many regrets that I will think of. But I do wish we’d been able to change the way we elect our governments in this country so that people could simply choose a second choice, or a third choice on the same ballot.”

He added that the country’s parliament would be suspended until March 24 while a new leader is chosen.

“Parliament has been paralysed for months after what has been the longest session of a minority parliament in Canadian history,” he said.

“This morning, I advised the Governor General that we need a new session of parliament. She has granted this request, and the House will now be prorogued until March 24.”

When asked, he described himself as a “fighter” and said that Canadians deserve a “real choice” in the next elections. He also mentioned the “internal battles” that barred him from carrying the liberal standards in the next polls.

He went on to add that finding common ground remained important for democracies and changes in the electoral system could not be brought unilaterally.

In response to a question about his former finance minister’s resignation, Trudeau stated that he hoped that Freeland would agree to continue as his deputy PM and take one of the most important files.

While speaking about Conservative leader Pierre Poilievre, said that the rival candidate’s vision to stopping the fight against climate change “does not make sense”.