Alistair Coe's future as Canberra Liberals leader remains up in the air, as internal frustrations about the party's campaign strategy and conservative power base spilled over in the wake of its sixth consecutive ACT election defeat.
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As the post-mortem into the Liberals' election loss rolled on, Attorney-General Gordon Ramsay was on Monday night fighting to hold on to his seat in the ACT Legislative Assembly.
The Ginninderra MLA would be Labor's biggest casualty in an election which will see Andrew Barr's party returned to government but with up to two fewer members.
Mr Barr earlier in the day said it would be a "devastating loss for ACT Labor" if Mr Ramsay was to lose his seat, although he stressed his colleague was far from beaten with postal and paper ballots still being counted.
"I'm not writing Gordon off yet," Mr Barr said.
"Yes, I'm sweating on that result, absolutely, because Gordon is an outstanding member of the Legislative Assembly and brings a wealth of experience in the community."
As of Monday night, Mr Ramsay's seat in Ginninderra and the fifth seat in Brindabella were still hanging in the balance.
The Liberals had not conceded Candice Burch's seat in Kurrajong, although the Greens' Rebecca Vassarotti was almost certain to join her party leader Shane Rattenbury as representatives in the inner-city electorate.
The Greens could yet have six members elected to the next Assembly, giving them significant bargaining power as they prepare to start negotiations with Labor on a new parliamentary agreement.
The Greens will consult with grassroots members this week before starting talks. Mr Rattenbury said his preference was to remain in cabinet but has not ruled out sitting on the crossbench.
Mr Barr said he would prefer Mr Rattenbury took a position in cabinet and Labor and the Greens again governed in coalition.
If Liberal candidate Peter Cain topples Mr Ramsay in Ginninderra then the Opposition would hold nine seats in the next Assembly, two fewer than after the 2016 election.
Regardless of the final outcome, the Liberals were facing immediate questions about their leadership after an election campaign which saw the party's primary vote go backward.
Mr Coe failed to front the media or return calls for the second consecutive day on Monday, with speculation continuing to swirl about whether he would seek to remain as Liberals leader.
Possible challengers for the position, including former leader Jeremy Hanson and education spokeswoman Elizabeth Lee, were unlikely to declare their intentions until it was clear who would be in the Liberal party room in the next term.
The defeat has already exposed old divisions within the party.
Former Liberal Senator and Chief Minister Gary Humphries lashed the Canberra Liberals' election campaign and the conservative forces controlling the ACT branch, warning they would face another 20 years in Opposition without radical reform.
Mr Humphries said the October election had been the Liberals' to lose and defeat to the long-serving Labor government could not be blamed on the coronavirus pandemic.
Mr Coe didn't respond to Mr Humphries' comments on Monday.
But fellow conservative Zed Seselja did hit back, saying Mr Humphries was in no position to "credibly criticise anyone" given the Liberals' election result when he was leader in 2001.
Mr Humphries, who has only recently rejoined the Canberra Liberals after quitting in 2014, said the party was locked in a "crippling and paralysing conservatism", which robbed it of the chance to speak to the values of the Canberra community.
A number of Liberal party members who spoke to The Canberra Times on the condition of anonymity echoed Mr Humphries' sentiment.
The party members said at the heart of the Liberals' problem was the makeup of the branch's governing management committee, which they said was filled almost exclusively with conservatives.
The committee includes the party's president, vice-president, treasurer and the chairs of its local electorates branches, among other office-bearers.
"The running of the party needs to be inclusive," one member said.
"It needs to draw in, and draw upon, all Liberals, and not just conservatives."
Another member criticised the Liberals' pre-selection process for the 2020 ACT election, which saw incumbents shielded from challenges from new candidates.
"That made the MLAs immune from outside competition. That had the impact of entrenching existing MLAs," the member said.