The main opposition Democratic United Party will elect a new floor leader on Friday to pull together the party reeling from its presidential election defeat.

The election committee decided Wednesday to receive candidate registration by Thursday afternoon.

It will not conduct the debate process due to the urgent need to fill the leadership vacuum, committee chairperson Rep. Kim Woo-nam said.

The liberal party has been without a leader since Rep. Park Jie-won resigned Friday, taking responsibility for the outcome of the Dec. 19 election.

In November, former chairman Rep. Lee Hae-chan stepped down, bowing to pressure from independent presidential hopeful Ahn Cheol-soo, who had demanded the DUP reform before merging candidacy with its nominee Moon Jae-in.

Potential candidates include vice floor leader Rep. Park Ki-choon and supreme councilor Rep. Kim Han-gil.

But other party heavyweights appear reluctant to run for the stopgap leadership.

The new floor leader will chair the party’s emergency leadership council, leading it in the April parliamentary by-election, but will serve only until early May when Park’s original one-year term ends. As the new whip will be in charge of managing the election, it is virtually impossible for him or her to challenge for the party chair.

By Bae Hyun-jung (tellme@heraldcorp.com)