The major parties are yet to finalise candidates for a string of seats across NSW, with the Coalition far behind Labor as the election looms.
The state selection process comes after bitter preselection battles dogged the Liberal Party’s doomed federal campaign, during which former prime minister Scott Morrison intervened to make more than a dozen so-called “captain’s picks”.
Those interventions were challenged in court by NSW Liberal Party executives, leading to a series of last-minute nominations by the party.
Twenty-five days from polling day, 17 seats are without a Liberal candidate, while five electorates are without Labor representatives.
The Coalition’s junior party, the Nationals, said its selection process had been wrapped up with all candidates finalised.
Nominations for candidates in the NSW election close on March 8.
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The Liberal Party is yet to name candidates in the safe Labor-held electorates of Bankstown, Blacktown, Blue Mountains, Canterbury, Fairfield, Heffron, Mount Druitt, Prospect, Rockdale, Summer Hill, Swansea, Wollongong and Wyong.
The party has also not named a candidate for in-play seats Port Stephens and Strathfield, as well as Kiama, where former Liberal MP Gareth Ward will run as an independent.
Mr Ward was removed from the party after he was charged with sexual and indecent assault. He denies any wrongdoing and the case remains before the courts.
Premier Dominic Perrottet has maintained the party intends to win the seat from his former colleague.
“The Liberals will be running in Kiama and will be winning that seat,” he said in February.
“We’ll be winning Kiama as we have over the last three terms.”
The party is also yet to put up a challenger for the seat of Lake Macquarie, safely held by independent MP Greg Piper.
Meanwhile, Labor is yet to name candidates in five seats, including in the Nationals seat of Oxley and the safely-held Liberal seats of Cronulla, Wahroonga and Epping, which is held by Premier Dominic Perrottet.
The party is also yet to name a replacement for the candidate for Manly after its previous candidate bowed out of the race following a series of cryptic social media posts.
Manly is held by Environment Minister James Griffin.
Former AFP officer and economist David Saliba was selected as Labor’s candidate for Fairfield on Tuesday after days of questions over who would contest the seat.
Labor leader Chris Minns defended the time taken to choose Mr Saliba, saying the selection had been complicated by boundary changes, resulting in several people throwing their hats in the ring.
-AAP
