Rachel Notley has conceded her spot as leader of the Alberta New Democrats after holding the fort for nearly a decade.

The shocking announcement Tuesday follows consecutive electoral defeats to Conservative governments after serving a single term as premier from 2015 to 2019.

Having served the NDP as MLA for five elections, including three as party leader, Notley chose not to speculate on her next steps at this juncture.

"I’m not going to lead the party into the next election," she confirmed during a media interview. "I will be stepping down as leader once the party chooses a new leader."

Although Notley remains undecided on whether to continue on as MLA following a leadership vote, she attributed rumors of a federal run as "pure speculation."

BREAKING: Rachel Notley resigns as leader of the Alberta NDP.

She acknowledged her caucus of 50 MLAs in 2015 “never expected to be elected, let alone finding themselves in a government cabinet."

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"While I wish I was premier right now," she said, "the fact is that I am the leader of a progressive opposition, the largest in the history of the province, one that is very ready to govern."

"What am I most proud of? What’s the legacy of my time as leader? I would argue that is the biggest."

"When I got elected in 2008," said Notley, "I ran to be a voice much like my dad was for that minority of Albertans who felt that their political views and their personal views and their values were not reflected in their provincial legislature."

Her late-father and former NDP leader, Grant Notley, tragically lost his life in a sudden plane crash in 1984.

"We have now solidly established a two-party province," she contends. 

"By two-party I don’t mean two different shades of conservative – shades of right and farther right – but rather that we have a progressive choice in the province for the first time in over a century," continued Notley.

This is a developing story.