By David Ljunggren
OTTAWA, Jan 14 (Reuters) – Quebec premier Francois Legault said on Wednesday he was resigning after more than seven years in office, months ahead of an election which a party seeking independence for the Canadian province looks set to win.
Legault’s center-right Coalition Avenir Quebec party won elections in 2018 and 2022 but has struggled over the last year amid voter fatigue and a high-profile fight with doctors.
“A lot of people in Quebec want change, and among other things, a change of prime minister,” Legault told reporters in Quebec City.
“For the good of my party, and above all for the good of Quebec, I am announcing today that I will leave my position as prime minister of Quebec.”
Legault, 68, said he would stay in the job until the party chose a new leader. The next election in Quebec, the second most populous of the 10 provinces, must be held by October 5 and polls indicate an easy win for the separatist Parti Quebecois.
The PQ, which wants independence for Quebec, is promising to hold another referendum on splitting from Canada. Two previous such votes, in 1980 and 1995, both failed.
Although the PQ looks set to win, a series of polls over the last two years show a solid majority are against the idea of breaking from Canada.
Legault, a former airline executive, created the CAQ in 2011 and pressed for more powers for Quebec inside Canada rather than advocating an outright split.
During his time in office he repeatedly urged the federal government to stem the flow of refugees crossing the border with the United States and to compensate Quebec for costs.
A Leger poll last month put the PQ on 35% public support, with the Liberals in second place on 20% and the CAQ in third place on 19%. Such a result on election day would give the PQ a majority of the 126 seats in the provincial legislature.
The provincial Liberals are also looking for a new leader after the previous incumbent quit last month.
(Reporting by David Ljunggren, Editing by Franklin Paul and Nia Williams)
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