Carney, a former chairman of the Bank of Canada, received 85.9 percent of the vote and was elected directly in the first round, party chairman Sachit Mehra said.

The rank and file of the Liberal Party of Canada on Sunday gave their majority support to Mark Carney to succeed Justin Trudeau at the head of the party and therefore also to become the country's next prime minister.

Carney, a former president of the Bank of Canada, Canada's central bank, won 85.9 percent of the vote and was elected directly in the first round, party chairman Sachit Mehra was quoted as saying by Canadian public television, CBC.

Carney thus surpasses Trudeau, who in 2013 won the primaries with just over 80 percent of the votes, and prevails over his other three rivals: Chrystia Freeland (8 percent), Karina Gould (3.2 percent) and Frank Baylis (3 percent).

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