Rival political parties failed to strike a deal today on the allocation of parliamentary standing committee chairs due to differences over which side should take chairmanship of key committees.

Floor leaders from the ruling People Power Party(PPP) and the main opposition Democratic Party(DP), along with their respective chief deputies, held a closed-door meeting Wednesday morning, but did not reach an agreement.

The PPP is demanding that it maintains chairmanship of seven of 18 standing committees from the previous 21st National Assembly, including the legislation and judiciary committee, the house steering committee, and the science, ICT, broadcasting and communications committee.

The DP, which has retained its majority in parliament, has declared its intention to unilaterally handle a related bill at a plenary session on Friday, the legal deadline, unless the ruling side comes to an agreement.

The PPP, which expressed regret that the first plenary session of the 22nd Assembly Wednesday will be held without a partisan deal on the agenda, is set to convene a general meeting of its representatives to decide whether to boycott the session.

The opposition bloc, including the DP, is set to elect DP Reps. Woo Won-shik and Lee Hack-young as the speaker and deputy speaker, respectively, for the first half of the 22nd Assembly.