(Reuters) -Outgoing Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's Liberal Party said late on Thursday it will choose a new leader on March 9 ahead of the 2025 elections for which polls show the party in a very weak position.
The prime minister announced on Monday that he will step down in the coming months after nine years in power, bowing to pressure from lawmakers alarmed by the party's miserable showing in pre-election polls.
Trudeau said that he would stay on both as prime minister and Liberal leader until the party chooses a new chief.
"After a robust and secure nation-wide process, the Liberal Party of Canada will choose a new leader on March 9, and be ready to fight and win the 2025 election," the party said in a statement.
The party's National Board of Directors formally met Thursday evening to discuss and outline the initial rules of the upcoming leadership race.
The leadership vote will conclude on March 9 and a new leader will be announced on the same date, the party said.
The cut-off date to become a registered Liberal and be eligible to vote in the leadership race will be Jan. 27, according to the Liberal Party. The entrance fee for a candidate to join the leadership race will be C$350,000 ($242,920.60), the party added.
The Globe and Mail reported late on Thursday that former finance minister Chrystia Freeland and former central banker Mark Carney were poised to seek the Liberal Party leadership, while Foreign Minister Melanie Joly and Innovation Minister François-Philippe Champagne remained uncertain over whether to join the race. The report cited sources.
Trudeau announced on Monday that parliament would be prorogued, or suspended, until March 24.
That meant an election was unlikely before May at the earliest, so Trudeau was expected to remain in charge - at least initially - of dealing with the threat of crippling tariffs once U.S. President-elect Donald Trump takes office on Jan. 20.
Trump has been critical of Trudeau, who in turn has criticized the president-elect's proposed tariffs, with the Canadian saying they will harm both nations.
Trump has also referred to Canada as a U.S. state, with Trudeau saying there was not "a snowball's chance in hell" that Canada would become part of the United States.
The next Canadian election must be held by Oct. 20 and polls show that voters - angry over high prices and a shortage of affordable housing - are set to elect the opposition Conservatives and hand the Liberals a resounding defeat, no matter who leads the party.
($1 = 1.4408 Canadian dollars)
(Reporting by Kanishka Singh in Washington; Editing by Kim Coghil and Michael Perry)
