Liberal Democrat president Tim Farron says it would be "absolutely foolish" for the party to "turn in" on itself.
Two Lib Dem parliamentary candidates in key swing seats have urged leader Nick Clegg to step down after the party lost 307 councillors in Thursday's election.
But Mr Farron insisted Mr Clegg was the man to lead the party into the general election and urged members to "be proud behind our leader".
Mr Farron said he had "deep sympathy" with members who had lost seats.
But the Westmorland and Lonsdale MP told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show that he disagreed with calls among the party to oust its leader.
He said "tough decisions" had been taken in 2010 and it would be wrong to change course now just when they were being vindicated on things like the economic recovery.
On Saturday Jackie Porter, would-be MP for Winchester, said that after another poor local election showing, it was time to act in the party's best interests.
'Bruised'And West Dorset candidate Ros Kayes also said the public had lost trust in Mr Clegg.
Both Winchester and West Dorset are currently held by the Conservatives but are seen as winnable by the Lib Dems.
Mr Farron said he understood a lot of people were "bruised" by the local election results on Thursday and Friday.
"I've lost elections before and it's miserable," he said.
"I also understand why many people will feel that the message they got back on the doorsteps - that they didn't like us in government - is a really tough one."
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Mr Farron said the Lib Dems would continue to stand united
He added: "But I just think that at this time it would be absolutely foolish of us as a party to turn in on ourselves."
Following the local election results on Friday, all three established parties have faced questions about their reaction to the share of the vote achieved by the UK Independence Party.
Deputy Labour leader Harriet Harman said with 300 new councillors following the elections, she would be "baffled" at her party turning in on itself.
She said Labour had had a great set of elections on Thursday and rejected suggestions that Labour leader Ed Miliband was less popular than his party, or that the party should have done better.
Ms Harman said Mr Miliband was the only leader to have "cognised" people's views on things like his cost of living campaign and had changed the agenda. She told the BBC's Andrew Marr Show people should "look at what he has done".
She said predicting next year's General Election by comparing these local election results with previous years was "for the birds" given the "unprecedented situation" of the Tories and Lib Dems in coalition, and UKIP having gained ground.
"I'm sorry I'm not able to be here to tear my hair out and agree we are emerging blinking from the rubble... that might be the case for the other parties but it's not the case for us," she said.
Ms Harman added that the message from UKIP's vote showed that people had concerns, and that Labour was "determined to address them".
Meanwhile, Home Secretary Theresa May said the "only leadership question in politics today" was whether David Cameron or Ed Miliband would be elected prime minister in 2015.
The MP dismissed suggestions, put to her on the Andrew Marr Show, that she was "arm-wrestling" George Osborne and Boris Johnson to take Mr Cameron's place as party leader.
She said the party was focused on "getting on with the job" of looking ahead to the next general election.
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