EDMONTON – Alberta Liberal Leader Raj Sherman is quitting as the party’s boss effective immediately.

The two-term Edmonton MLA and emergency room doctor says he will stay on in his seat until the next election – which could come as early as this spring – but won’t run again.

Under Sherman, the Liberals won five seats in the 2012 election – down from nine in the previous vote – and lost official opposition status to the Wildrose party.

The party has also struggled with fundraising, and two of its five MLAs will soon be quitting to run federally.

Sherman, who is 48, was voted in as Liberal leader in 2011 after crossing the floor from the Progressive Conservatives.

His departure means that none of the four party leaders elected in Alberta in 2012 remains in that job today.