Four heavyweights of the main opposition Democratic Party(DP) will vie for the National Assembly speaker post. 

DP lawmakers Cho Jeong-sik, Woo Won-shik and Jung Sung-ho as well as lawmaker-elect Choo Mi-ae were found to have registered as candidates for the top post on Wednesday, the deadline for candidate registration. 

Choo and Jung each disclosed they had registered as candidates through a news conference and press release, respectively, on Wednesday while Cho and Woo had handed in their registration on Tuesday. 

Meanwhile, lawmaker-elect Park Jie-won, who had mulled running for assembly speaker, decided not to run. 

In a social media post, Park said he concluded that now is not the time for him to step forward. 

The DP is set to elect its candidate for the post next Thursday. The candidate who wins the primary will almost certainly be named the new assembly speaker in the opposition-dominated parliament.

The new speaker will serve for two years, or the first-half of the parliament’s four-year term.