Standing shoulder to shoulder after a four-hour emergency meeting of the NDP executive, party president Ellen Olfert and Premier Greg Selinger confirmed a leadership election will take place at the annual convention in March.

"We are moving forward with a leadership election as part of our regular convention in March," said Olfert.

The leadership contest will be open to anyone who wants to challenge Selinger for the top job.

"The good news is that it will follow the democratic process that we have in our constitution and allow us as legislators to get back to the business of serving the people of Manitoba with our throne speech coming up," said Selinger.

A committee has been struck to determine the ground rules for the race and answer key questions, including whether sitting cabinet ministers will have to resign their posts to run.

That committee will report to the executive who will then take the recommendations to the NDP Council at a previously scheduled meeting in December for final approval.

Selinger said he was confident the NDP could carry on all the duties and functions of a sitting government without letting the leadership race become a distraction.

"We have people that know what their job is as legislators, they know what they have to do in order to fulfill their responsibilities."

The NDP has had difficulty presenting a united front since calls for the premier to step down grew last month, but on Saturday, even the loudest of those voices toed the party line.

"We support what the president and the premier said and I think that pretty much says it all," said executive member Becky Barrett. It was a very good productive meeting."

The convention and leadership election will take place March 6 to 8.