One Nation's West Australian president has quit the role and announced he'd run as an independent in the Darling Range by-election because the party rejected his nomination, state leader Colin Tincknell says.
When Doug Shaw was appointed to the interim role, he said he wouldn't seek to be a candidate but changed his mind and didn't pass the vetting stage "so he was pissed off", Mr Tincknell said.
"He didn't measure up to the One Nation candidate who did get through," Mr Tincknell told AAP on Wednesday.
"It's a shame that Doug didn't accept the decision."
Mr Tincknell said the party copped a lot of criticism last year when it rushed through selecting 50 candidates for the state election in 30 days and "four or five" who "weren't up to speed" slipped through, so vetting was now much tighter.
"We made a promise to the press and everyone else that we would really clean up our act. That's all we did with this."
The last man standing was Rod Caddies, who unsuccessfully ran with One Nation for an upper house seat last year.
Mr Tincknell conceded Mr Caddies had "no chance" of winning Darling Range but polling suggested he would secure a higher proportion of the vote than the party got for the seat at last year's state election.
Minor party preferences would be important and Mr Caddies would have another go with next year's federal election, Mr Tincknell added.
He said the state branch would not appoint another interim president but would vote for a permanent one in a couple of months.
Share
