Mr Parton, who quit his breakfast show on 2CC in December, was announced as the successful candidate to fill the opening left by Brendan Smyth at a meeting of the Canberra Liberals on Monday night.

He was among six contenders, including Jane Hiatt, seeking the final spot in the southern seat of Brindabella.

Lawyer Jessica Adelan-Langford, who stood for the Liberal Party in the federal seat of Canberra, beat one other nominee to win preselection in Murrumbidgee.

The Liberals found themselves short an election candidate in the Woden-Weston seat when John Ellingham withdrew from the line-up two weeks after he was announced as a candidate for the October election.

Mr Parton stood as an independent in the 2008 election and last year said he was not a member of the Liberal Party and his chances of standing at this year's election were 0 to 2 per cent.

Liberal Leader Jeremy Hanson praised the pair as "excellent candidates" for the party.

Earlier on Monday, Deputy Chief Minister Simon Corbell slammed Mr Smyth for accepting the Commissioner for International Engagement job offered to him by Chief Minister Andrew Barr.

"It's a quite extraordinary decision for a senior leader such as Brendan Smyth to make and certainly reflects on perhaps some discontent [within the Liberals]," Mr Corbell said on Monday, speaking on ABC radio.

He said the Liberals were still struggling to fill their ticket of 25 candidates for the ACT election, while the Labor candidates had been campaigning for many months.

Mr Hanson was on the same radio show and said it was "a bit ironic that the chief minister offered Mr Smyth a job and then Simon's saying that's a vacancy that we've got that we haven't been able to fill."

To which, Mr Corbell interrupted, "He took it Jeremy, why did he take it, Jeremy?"

Mr Hanson said there had been strong interest in Mr Smyth's position on the ticket.

"I don't think you can say we've got a hole in our team when the reality is that this was a position that was created by the government for Brendan to go to."

Mr Corbell: "It was created by Brendan, Brendan took the decision. He wanted out of your party. And I guess what's most interesting of course is why did your most senior economic spokesperson, the shadow treasurer, if you are so confident that you're going to win office, jump ship months before the election?"

To which Mr Hanson retorted that Mr Corbell had been rejected by his own party, failing to win support from his own Left faction during last year's pre-selection.

"Given that your own party chopped you off and you didn't get pre-selected, that left a bit of a hole too didn't it?" Mr Hanson said.

Sex Party candidate for the southern electorate Steven Bailey said Mr Parton had told him on Wednesday last week, before Mr Bailey's candidacy was announced, "that he was going to be the candidate for Brindabella".

Mr Parton had wanted to know where Mr Bailey was planning to run.

"I think the Liberals would find it very interesting that Mark felt the need to consult with the Sex Party before he put up his hand for endorsement. The very fact that I knew last week that Mark was going to be endorsed is proof enough that the process for preselection in the Canberra Liberals is a complete sham," Mr Bailey said.

"It's completely unethical and unfair to the members of the Canberra Liberals, that the deal was already stitched up for Mark Parton ... The party should reconsider Mark's endorsement."