A factional battle continued to engulf the ruling Saenuri Party on Friday over the candidate nomination for the April general election, with senior lawmakers defecting from the party in protest.

Reps. Ahn Sang-soo and Cho Hae-jin said in the morning that they would leave the Saenuri Party to run as independents. They follow in the footsteps of Rep. Chin Young, former health minister, who left Thursday. Third-term lawmaker Rep. Joo Ho-young also indicated he is contemplating leaving. Most of those leaving or considering it have been dropped from nominations by the committee led by figures closely associated with President Park Geun-hye.

The party’s Supreme Council and nomination committee meetings were canceled.

The party has been dominated by a clash between the pro-Park members and their adversaries in the competition for general election candidacy. Minor opposition People’s Party cochief Rep. Ahn Cheol-soo said the Saenuri feud arose because the nomination committee was directly controlled by Park.

The pro-Park faction is currently spearheaded by nomination committee chairman Rep. Lee Hahn-koo, with the rival group being represented by party chairman Rep. Kim Moo-sung.

“This election will serve as an opportunity to hold Lee and his committee accountable,” said Ahn Sang-soo in a press conference.

Cho Hae-jin, the party’s former vice floor leader, said that the election would serve as a chance to address “unjust politics,” and vowed to win the contest as an independent. Cho is close to former whip Rep. Yoo Seong-min, who has been openly criticized by President Park over differences on key government initiatives.

The defection added fuel to the intraparty feud, as chairman Kim Moo-sung reiterated Friday that he would not endorse what he viewed to be a “biased” nomination list.

The committee has also yet to decide on whether to nominate Yoo, whom President Park and her faction criticized for “betraying” the conservative party’s ideology. The former floor leader is reportedly considering a run as an independent, should he be deprived of the party’s ticket.

With those being excluded from the nomination weighing whether to join forces or run as independents, the main opposition party, The Minjoo Party of Korea, was seen taking its cue by floating the idea of having former health minister Chin join them for the election.

Chin was once considered one of President Park’s loyalists during her presidential campaign, but became estranged from Park after his opposition to her welfare policies for the elderly. He resigned from his ministerial post in 2013.

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