Cannold was running as second-placed candidate on WikiLeaks’ Senate ticket in Victoria.

Had the party secured enough votes Cannold would have probably taken up a seat in given that Julian Assange, the first candidate on the ticket, is still holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Cannold, plus four members of the party’s governing council, resigned after right wing parties were given preference over the Greens and Labor.

Dr Cannold said: “It was a difficult decision. I just, in the end, couldn’t do otherwise.

“Over the course of the vigorous debates that have taken place over preferences there have been consistent challenges to the rights of the National Council, the 11 person democratic governing body of the WikiLeaks Party, to do its job: to make democratic, transparent and accountable decisions.

“Since June when I joined the campaign, I have been concerned that where disagreement exists with decisions Council makes, these have been white-anted and resisted, forcing Council to reaffirm these decisions and assert their right to make them.”

Earlier this week the party had claimed that the preference forms submitted in New South Wales and Western Australia had been down to an administrative error.

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