A confidant of the main opposition party leader said Friday evening that the chairman has decided to stand pat to conduct an official vote of confidence next week, despite repeated requests by other lawmakers to cancel the plan.

The decision was made hours after Rep. Moon Jae-in, chairman of the New Politics Alliance for Democracy, held a meeting with key members of the party in the afternoon.

At the meeting, Moon said he would think about withdrawing the vote as lawmakers including Rep. Park Byeong-seung urged him to find another way to seek the unity of the party, such as holding a joint meeting of NPAD lawmakers and other key party members.

Moon promised the lawmakers that he would keep an eye on their proposal to see if it would be as effective as performing the vote, said Choi Jae-sung, general affairs manager at NPAD.

The chairman, however, decided to adhere to his initial plan as the party’s floor leader Rep. Lee Jong-kul remained uncooperative about conducting the vote, believing his attitude was a clear expression of him wanting Moon to step down.

“The floor leader who was also in the meeting said he doesn’t know what to do with the vote and he has no authority to convene legislators for that,” said Choi.

“This was an attempt to sideline Moon’s plan of doing the vote.”

In a surprising announcement last week, Moon said he would have his chairmanship tested -- widely seen as an attempt to consolidate his leadership and silence objection from nonmainstream members of the party. The vote of confidence is scheduled to take place next week before the Chuseok holiday that falls from Sept. 26 to 29.

By Yeo Jun-suk (jasonyeo@heraldcorp.com)