High-profile WikiLeaks Party candidate Dr Leslie Cannold has resigned from the party, citing “white-anting” and disunity.
The ethicist and media commentator was Julian Assange’s running mate for the Victorian Senate, and said in a statement today that others would follow her in leaving the party.
The party copped flak this week for preferencing the Shooters and Fishers Party and Australia First Party ahead of the major parties and the Greens on its how to vote cards.
A statement on the WikiLeaks Party Facebook page stated the announcement about directing preferences to the Shooters and Fishers Party was an accident.
"In allocating preferences between 53 other parties or groups in NSW some administrative errors occurred, as has been the case with some other parties," the party said.
Dr Cannold’s resignation has thrown light on the “days of battle” that took place over preferences within the governing body of the party, which campaigns on a platform of transparency.
There had been “consistent challenges” to the ability of the party’s 11-person National Council to do its job, Dr Cannold said in her statement.
“To keep being a candidate feels like I'm breaking faith with the Australian people, and those in the media who assist me to communicate with the public, many of whom I've had a long and respectful professional relationship with,” she said.
“This is because by being in this role I am implicitly making a statement that The Wikileaks Party is what it claims to be: a democratically run party that both believes in transparency and accountability, and operates in this way.”
Read Dr Cannold’s full statement below:
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