The ruling Saenuri Party will kick off preparations for the national convention this week in order to form its new leadership before mid-May, party officials said on Monday.

“We will try to prevent the national convention from becoming exhaustive and overheated,” Saenuri spokesman Hwang Young-cheul told reporters after a plenary session of the emergency committee at the party’s headquarters in Yeouido, Seoul.

A 20-member preparation committee will be set up this week to hold the convention within a month, and the party leadership will shrink its 200,000-strong electoral college, Hwang explained.

Saenuri, which won 152 seats in the April 11 general elections, has been cautiously celebrating its triumph as the majority party in the next parliament, as it performed poorly in the most populous metropolitan region. It won only 16 out of 48 seats at stake in Seoul, and 43 out of 112 seats in surrounding Gyeonggi Province.

While Saenuri’s surprise win brightened chief Park Geun-hye’s presidential aspirations, Saenuri’s lagging support from younger and urban voters also came to light.

As discussion for the next leadership is gaining momentum, there have been growing calls for the next chair to be younger, with a metropolitan background.

“It would be better (if the next chairperson) comes from the metropolitan region. Unless we show an image of reform, it will be hard to win the votes from the metropolitan constituencies,” said Kim Jong-in, a member of the emergency committee headed by Park, on Sunday.

Names of several younger party members began to surface in the local media as potential contenders to lead the ruling party until the presidential election late this year. They include Nam Kyung-pil, 47, who won his fifth-term in Suwon, Gyeonggi Province, and Chung Doo-un, 55, from Seodaemun-gu of Seoul.

Park Geun-hye, in the meantime, urged a swift revamp of the party ahead of the 19th National Assembly.

“Our task is to end the difficult situation of the public. In order to do that, the new leadership must be formed so promptly that the party will be able to normalize and fulfill the promises that we have made to the people,” Park said.

By Lee Joo-hee (jhl@heraldcorp.com)