Canada’s Prime Minister Pierre Trudeau Monday announced his resignation from the position as leader of that country’s Liberal Party, saying he intended to relinquish the premiership as soon as his successor was selected.

Trudeau touted his record on Covid-19, trade, climate change, and Ukraine, while citing parliamentary gridlock and intraparty challenges to his leadership as the cause for his departure.

“I intend to resign as party leader, as prime minister after the party selects its next leader through a robust, nationwide, competitive process,” said Trudeau, who sent Parliament to a recess (called “prorogation”) until March. 

Trudeau, who has led the party since 2013 and the nation since 2015, stepped down ahead of a prospective leadership challenge at the Liberal Party’s caucus meeting Wednesday, according to a report. The party is facing an electoral massacre at the face of Pierre Poilievre’s Conservative Party in October’s elections.