TORONTO (AP) — The leader of Canada's French-speaking province of Quebec announced Wednesday he is stepping down because he is unpopular.
The Coalition Avenir Québec party will have a short time to choose a new leader to replace Premier François Legault ahead of the provincial election scheduled for this fall.
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Quebec Premier Francois Legault, accompanied by his chief of staff Martin Koskinen, left, and wife Isabelle Brais, right, pauses as he announces his resignation in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
Quebec Premier Francois Legault, accompanied by his chief of staff Martin Koskinen, left, and wife Isabelle Brais, right, walk to a news conference to announce his resignation in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
Quebec Premier Francois Legault and his wife, Isabelle Brais, walk to a news conference to announce his resignation in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
Quebec Premier Francois Legault and his wife, Isabelle Brais, walk to a news conference to announce his resignation in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
Quebec Premier Francois Legault announces his resignation during a news conference at his office in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
Legault founded the party and has been Quebec’s premier since 2018.
“I'm seeing now that many Quebecers are hoping and wanting a change and a change in premier," Legault said.
"For the good of my party, and especially for the good of Quebec, I am announcing that I will be resigning my position as the premier of Quebec,”
Legault said he will stay on until a new party leader has been appointed.
“He is the least popular premier in the country right now,” said Daniel Béland, a political science professor at McGill University in Montreal.
“He has been in power since late 2018, and he was very popular at first but his popularity started to decline in early-mid 2023. People lost trust in him and his government due to unpopular policies and poor public communications, among other things.”
The Coalition Avenir Québec has sought more autonomy and power for Quebec within Canada.
Quebec’s separatist party, the Parti Québécois, might win the provincial election in the fall.
The province's Liberal party, staunch supporters of Canadian unity, are also in need of a new leader after its previous leader stepped down over allegations of vote-buying by party members.
Quebec’s identity has been contentious since the 1760s when the British completed their takeover of what was then called New France. In the 1960s, the Parti Quebecois was formed under the leadership of a TV commentator-turned-politician named Rene Levesque, who would go on to rule the province for nine years.
Quebec, which is about 80% French-speaking, has significant autonomy already. The province of 9.1 million sets its own income tax, has its own immigration policy favoring French speakers, and has legislation prioritizing French over English. Voters have twice rejected sovereignty, though only by a razor-thin margin in a 1995 referendum.
“The presence of Donald Trump in the White House should give pause to those who think a provincial independence referendum is a good idea in the current context,” Béland said.
Quebec Premier Francois Legault, accompanied by his chief of staff Martin Koskinen, left, and wife Isabelle Brais, right, pauses as he announces his resignation in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
Quebec Premier Francois Legault, accompanied by his chief of staff Martin Koskinen, left, and wife Isabelle Brais, right, walk to a news conference to announce his resignation in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
Quebec Premier Francois Legault and his wife, Isabelle Brais, walk to a news conference to announce his resignation in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
Quebec Premier Francois Legault and his wife, Isabelle Brais, walk to a news conference to announce his resignation in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
Quebec Premier Francois Legault announces his resignation during a news conference at his office in Quebec City, on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2026. (Jacques Boissinot/The Canadian Press via AP)
BARCELONA, Spain (AP) — Spanish prosecutors are studying allegations that Grammy-winning singer Julio Iglesias sexually assaulted two former employees at his residences in the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas.
The Spanish prosecutors’ office told The Associated Press on Wednesday that the allegations were related to media reports from earlier this week that alleged Iglesias had sexually and physically assaulted two women who worked in his Caribbean residences between January and October 2021.
Iglesias has yet to speak publicly regarding the allegations. Russell L. King, a Miami-based entertainment lawyer who lists Iglesias as a client on his website, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment by the AP.
The Spanish prosecutors’ office that handles cases for Spain’s National Court said that it had received formal allegations against Iglesias by an unnamed party on Jan. 5. Iglesias could potentially be taken in front of the Madrid-based court, which can try alleged crimes by Spanish citizens while they are abroad, according to the court’s press office.
Women’s Link Worldwide, a nongovernmental organization, said in a statement that it was representing the two women who had presented the complaint to the Spanish court. The group said that the women were accusing Iglesias of “crimes against sexual freedom and indemnity such as sexual harassment” and of “human trafficking for the purpose of forced labor and servitude.”
The organization said the women in their testimony also accused Iglesias of regularly checking their cellphones, of prohibiting them from leaving the house where they worked and demanding that they work up to 16 hours a day, with no contract or days off.
The organization said it did not reach out to authorities in the Bahamas or the Dominican Republic, and that it didn't know whether authorities in those Caribbean nations have initiated an investigation.
Gema Fernández, senior attorney at Women's Link Worldwide, said in an online press conference Wednesday that "Spanish legislation regarding sexual violence, gender-based violence and trafficking could be an interesting option" for the two women making the allegations against Iglesias.
“Listening to what (the two women) are seeking and their definitions of justice, it seems to us that filing a complaint with the Public Prosecutor’s Office of the National Court of Spain was the path that best suited their definition of justice. That is why we are supporting them along this path,” Fernández said.
Jovana Ríos Cisneros, executive director of Women’s Link Worldwide, asserted that Spanish prosecutors have decided to take statements from the two women and granted them the status of protected witnesses.
“Being heard by the Prosecutor’s Office is a very important step in the search for justice,” she said.
Fernández said prosecutors have not set a date to take statements from the women and noted that prosecutors have up to six months to determine whether the information they receive warrants a criminal prosecution. Those six months could exceptionally be extended to a year, she added.
The Prosecutor's Office did not immediately return a message seeking comment.
Spanish online newspaper elDiario.es and Spanish-language television channel Univision Noticias published the joint investigation into Iglesias’ alleged misconduct.
Ríos said the two women initially contacted elDiario.es, which began investigating the allegations but also advised the women to seek legal help.
Spanish government spokeswoman Elma Saiz said that the media reports regarding Iglesias “demanded respect.”
“Once again I can reaffirm this government’s firm and complete commitment to take on any act of violence, harassment or aggression against women,” Saiz said Tuesday after the media reports were published.
Panky Corcino, spokesman for the Attorney General’s Office in the Dominican Republic, declined to comment, saying he couldn't confirm or deny an investigation.
By law, any case in the Caribbean country that involves sexual aggression or violence must be investigated by prosecutors, even if no one has filed a complaint.
The 82-year-old Iglesias is one of the world’s most successful musical artists after having sold more than 300 million records in more than a dozen languages. After making his start in Spain, he won immense popularity in the United States and wider world in the 1970s and ‘80s. He’s the father of pop singer Enrique Iglesias.
Julio Iglesias won a 1988 Grammy for Best Latin Pop Performance for his album “Un Hombre Solo.” He also received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grammys in 2019.
Spain’s culture minister said Wednesday that its left-wing government, which holds women’s rights and equality among its priorities, will also consider stripping Iglesias of the state’s Gold Medal of Merit in the Fine Arts that he was awarded in 2010.
“It is something we are studying and evaluating, because evidently we feel obliged to do so when faced by such a serious case,” Culture Minister Ernest Urtasun said.
Coto reported from San Juan, Puerto Rico. Associated Press reporters Suman Naishadham in Madrid and Martín Adames in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, contributed to this report.
FILE - Spanish singer Julio Iglesias smiles during his star unveiling ceremony at the Walk of Fame in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Thursday, Sept. 29, 2016. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, file)
