Colum Eastwood is set to announce that he is stepping down as leader of the SDLP.
The Irish News understands that the Foyle MP will announce his departure from the role he has held for the past nine years at a press conference in Derry on Thursday.
His resignation comes just eight weeks after he retained his Westminster seat with a reduced majority of 4,166.
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While the party also retained its seat in South Belfast & Mid Down, the overall general election result was regarded as disappointing for the SDLP, which lost substantial ground in South Down and Upper Bann.
Mr Eastwood, who succeeded Alasdair McDonnell as SDLP leader in 2015 following an acrimonious leadership contest, will remain as an MP.
The 41-year-old is his party’s sixth leader and its fifth since the signing of the Good Friday Agreement.
A senior SDLP source said Mr Eastwood had been considering standing down for some time.
“Colum has been planning the moment of his transition for a while and believes that now is the right time to give a new leader the time and space to establish themselves with no election on the horizon for three years,” the source said.
“He is still going to play a very active role in political life, he will remain as the MP for Foyle, he’ll support the next leader and he’s planning to devote his political energy to building the case for a new Ireland, something that he is very passionate about and believes deserves more energy.”
He is expected to remain in the leader’s role until the SDLP conference in early October.
The father-of-two is the youngest leader in his party’s history, having assumed the role aged 32.
Five years before becoming leader, he was elected as mayor of Derry, again the youngest person ever to hold that position.
Mr Eastwood’s expected resignation comes little over a fortnight after the party’s chief executive quit 18 months after being appointed.
Conor Houston, a solicitor by profession and chair of the SDLP’s New Ireland Commission, is moving to a role in the private sector.
On his departure, Mr Eastwood described him as a “huge asset to our party”.
The leader’s resignation, just two weeks after his Ulster Unionist counterpart Doug Beattie announced he was stepping down, is expected to spark speculation about who his successor will be.
Fellow MP Claire Hanna is expected to be among the front runners, while South Belfast MLA Matthew O’Toole, the party’s leader in the assembly, is also likely to feature in any leadership contest.
