OTTAWA, March 6 (Xinhuanet) -- Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martinwon a resounding vote of confidence from the ruling Liberal Party on Sunday, enabling him to lead the party into a new election.

    Eighty-eight percent of grass roots Liberal Party members voted to keep Martin as their leader at a four-day conference here in Ottawa.

    Martin, leader of the party since November 2003, was elected prime minister in December 2003 and re-elected to the post last July. The party requires a review of its leader after every election.

    Martin currently heads a minority government. Constitutionally,elections do not have to be held until June 2009. But minority governments in Canada rarely last longer than two years.

    While denying he was planning an election, Martin thanked the delegates for their confidence, and promised "a resounding victory" when one is held.

    "I want to thank all of you for that tremendous, that tremendous vote of confidence," he said at the end of the convention.

    "Together we are going to take the Liberal Party into the next election campaign, and together we are going to win a resounding victory," he said.

    Martin reinforced his standing with an announcement in late February of Canada's refusal to join the US Ballistic Missile Defense system, a decision hailed by the majority of Canadians.

    His domestic support has also been improved by a new budget, which promised more money for health, education and other social programs as well as defense, while offering moderate tax cuts.

    The measures were so popular that the main opposition party, the Conservatives, said it would not bring the government down when the House of Commons vote on the budget next week.

    With the leadership review out of the way and with the Conservatives promising not to defeat the annual federal budget invoting scheduled this week, Martin has no major scheduled confidence challenges for another year.

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