The Canberra Liberals' largest branch has weighed into the party's bitter Senate preselection battle, demanding the right of its members to enrol to vote for the party's Senate candidate.
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The intervention has also thrown into doubt the timing of an extraordinary general meeting scheduled for March 15 where Zed Seselja's victory over Gary Humphries in last month's preselection is to be challenged.
The party's Central Electorate Branch (CEB) says the full party gathering, or Divisional Council, is not constitutionally valid and the branch wants more time for its membership, estimated at up to 350, to get onto the rolls by attending a qualifying meeting.
The bitter internal struggle over the entitlement to vote has been raging since Mr Seselja announced his intention in early February to challenge incumbent Senator Humphries for the party's number one ACT Senate spot in September's federal election.
A group of disaffected party members have forced the Divisional Council, effectively an extraordinary general meeting of the local party, where they will try to force through a motion overturning the result of Mr Seselja's win and mandating a new preselection.
Mr Seselja defeated his former mentor by 144 votes to 84 on February 23 but the Divisional Council means that the two men will fight again for the preselection after many members reacted with fury, claiming they had been unfairly denied the opportunity to cast ballots.
Central branch chairwoman Anne Ryan wrote to her members on Monday, cancelling a meeting scheduled for Tuesday evening but pledging to hold another qualifying meeting.
Ms Ryan, who lost out in the preselection contest for the lower house seat of Canberra, told her colleagues that she did not believe the Divisional Council was constitutional and would have to be rescheduled, giving her branch enough time to hold a qualifying meeting.
"It is my understanding that due to the Notice of Divisional Council Meeting being sent out after 5pm on Friday, and therefore sent outside the guidelines of the constitution, we can now hold a meeting entitling all members of the Canberra Liberal Party to attend and gain voting rights," Ms Ryan wrote.
"This CEB meeting will now be constitutional and meet all the requirements."
A party spokesman told The Canberra Times on Monday that there had been no change to the plans for the March 15 gathering. In a further sign of the rancour engulfing the Liberals, Ms Ryan said she had been subject to unspecified "allegation and fingerpointing," and said they would be dealt with at the branch meeting. "I should also like to point out that there have been many allegations and finger pointing labelled at me personally, which have not allowed the 'presumption of innocence' to prevail, and these matters are best left to the confines of our meeting.
"Let's hope that this meeting can present the facts.''
"I would ask that you speak to your fellow Liberal Party member friends, to ensure that everyone is aware of the meeting being re-scheduled and the circumstances."
