A petition calling for Nick Clegg's resignation as the leader of the Liberal Democrats has gathered steam, with hundreds of party members calling for him to step down.
The Deputy Prime Minister has insisted he will not quit despite more than 250 of the party's councillors losing their seats in local elections in England.
The Liberal Democrats are at risk of losing every one of their 11 MEPs when European election results are declared on Monday.
Former Lib Dem MP Lembit Opik told Sky News that based on this week's local election drubbing, Mr Clegg had to quit.
"We lost roughly 40% of the councillors who were defending their seats ... Nick Clegg, whatever he thinks of himself, in the collective interests he has to go," he said.
But despite the poor local election results, Lib Dem Party President Tim Farron has backed his embattled leader.
Asked by Sky's Dermot Murnaghan whether Mr Clegg was the right person to lead the Liberal Democrats into the 2015 General Election, Mr Farron replied: "Yes, of course."
"Nick Clegg should undoubtedly stay and the Liberal Democrats should stay the course in government," he said.
"It's important we stand together as a party, behind Nick Clegg's leadership, and go forward for 2015."
The former Lib Dem leader Lord Ashdown also spoke out in support of Mr Clegg, labelling calls for him to step down "silly".
"It's frankly one of the silliest ideas I've ever heard that we should waste summer in an unnecessary and divisive leadership campaign," he told Sky News.
"We should get out on the streets with the message Nick has given us and campaign for the general election."
MP John Pugh, who described the local election defeats as "abysmal", said the party's "high command" was in danger of seeming like "Generals at the Somme".
Jackie Porter, who is set to fight the Tory-held target seat of Winchester in next May's general election, said the party was "not going forward with a clear strategy".
The county councillor said the party's achievements were overshadowed because Mr Clegg "allowed himself to be portrayed as just another pea out of the same pod" as David Cameron and Ed Miliband.
In order to win back support, the party needed to demonstrate it was different, she suggested.
But Mr Clegg has insisted he will 'absolutely not' resign More than 200 grassroots members have signed up to the online LibDems4Change campaign which has published an open letter to Mr Clegg.
It says: "We consider it vital that at the 2015 General Election the Party should be led by someone who will receive a fair hearing about our achievements and ambitions for the future.
"It is clear to us that this person is not you, as the loss of so many of our hard-working councillors highlights.
"You have fulfilled a range of objectives in Government, but we now believe that progress will be best achieved under a new leader.
"We therefore ask that you stand down, allowing the membership to select your successor this summer."
Under existing rules, if Mr Clegg refuses to quit, a leadership contest would be triggered if 75 local party associations formally demand one or a majority of the parliamentary party approves a no confidence motion.
Mr Clegg said on Saturday he would "absolutely not" resign, and insisted the Lib Dems were still succeeding where they focused on their achievements in coalition.
He blamed a wider "anti-politics mood" but his party has seen its opinion poll ratings at consistently low levels since joining the Conservative-led coalition.
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