Mark Carney was elected as the new leader of Canada's ruling Liberal Party on Sunday and is set to become the country's next prime minister.

Axar.az reports via New York Times.

Mark Carney, 59, who steered the Bank of Canada through the 2008 global financial crisis and the Bank of England through Brexit, but who has never been elected to office, won a leadership race on Sunday against his friend and former finance minister, Chrystia Freeland.

He won 85.9 percent of the votes cast by Liberal Party members. More than 150,000 people voted, according to the party’s leaders.

He is expected to be sworn in as prime minister quickly, early this week. But, because Mr. Carney does not hold a seat in Parliament, he is expected to call federal elections soon after being sworn in as prime minister. In those elections, he will face off with Pierre Poilievre, the leader of the Conservative Party.

Federal elections must be held by October in line with Canada’s rules. The Conservative Party, led by Mr. Poilievre, had long maintained a 20-plus point lead over the Liberals in polls, but the gap has been closing since Mr. Trudeau announced his resignation and Mr. Trump started making moves against Canada.

The latest polling suggests that most respondents would choose Mr. Carney over Mr. Poilievre if he led the Liberal Party into the elections. Polling also shows that Canadians would prefer Mr. Carney to negotiate with Mr. Trump over Mr. Poilievre. Mr. Poilievre has suffered a serious setback in polls, as some voters see him as too close ideologically to Mr. Trump.