Mike Baird, leader of Australia's most populous state, quits politics with a tweet

The leader of Australia’s most populous state resigned Thursday after his popularity plummeted over a series of decisions during 2016.

Sydney-based New South Wales Premier Mike Baird used social media to announce that the ruling Liberal Party would elect a new leader at a meeting on Tuesday. He would then quit the state parliament immediately after a 10-year career.

Treasurer Gladys Berejiklian, the party deputy, has said she will be a candidate and is widely regarded as the Baird’s most likely successor.

The surprise resignation comes during a turbulent era in Australian politics when state and federal leaders’ careers are often shorted lived.

Opinion polls showed the 48-year-old former banker was one on Australia’s most popular politicians at the start of 2016, which he recently described as his annus horribilis, Latin for horrible year.

His popularity had plummeted by late 2016 after he outlawed greyhound racing on the grounds of cruelty, then lifted the ban in the face of a political backlash. A series of policy backflips that followed tainted him as a politician without strong convictions.