Canadian Liberals unclear on leadership

OTTAWA, May 11 (UPI) -- Canada's politically battered Liberal party has given its remnant members as long as two years to elect a leader amid a flurry of new rules and requirements.

Past and present members and elected members of Parliament of the center-left party converged in Ottawa Wednesday after days of telephone conference calls on strategy, The Toronto Star reported.

The May 2 federal election saw the Liberals under the leadership of history professor Michael Ignatieff plummet to an unprecedented low of just 34 seats in the 308-seat parliament. Prime Minister Stephen Harper's Conservatives won a majority after five years in minority status, while the socialist New Democratic Party under Jack Layton surged to unprecedented official opposition status.

The Star said Liberal party members had agreed this week their next leader would have to be bilingual in English and French in light of the fact the party ushered bilingualism beginning in the 1960s. However, the paper said two-thirds of the remaining members of Parliament only speak English.

The party said in a statement it had also decided whoever is declared its interim leader in coming days would not be eligible to become the full-time leader, which further narrowed the field.

Canada has a majority government now and won't have another federal election until 2015.