TORONTO (voa) – Paul Martin has been elected head of Canada’s Liberal Party and will become the next prime minister when Jean Chretien retires.
On Friday in Toronto, almost 94 percent of delegates at the Liberal Party convention voted for Mr. Martin, a former finance minister widely credited with helping get Canada out of debt during his nine-year term.
The Liberal Party leader automatically is set to become prime minister because the party holds the most seats in Canada’s House of Commons.
Last August, Mr. Chretien announced he would retire in February 2004, after nearly 10 years in power. But Canadian political analysts say Mr. Chretien could step down within weeks.
On Thursday, when asked how much longer he would stay in office, Prime Minister Chretien said, “I don’t know — a few weeks, a few months.”
Mr. Martin ran for head of the Liberal Party against Prime Minister Chretien in 1990, but lost in a close race. This time, reports say Mr. Martin won by building up grass-roots support that gave him a stranglehold on voting delegates at the party’s leadership convention.
