Australia: Male candidate pre-selected by local party branch forced to defend against unsubstantiated gender-bias claims

Link here. Excerpt:

'The man picked by the Liberal Party to run in the hotly-contested Western Australian federal seat of Stirling has defended the process which saw him chosen over four female nominees, saying preselectors were given complete freedom.
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He was chosen to run after frontbencher Michael Keenan announced he would retire at the next election.
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Mr Keenan today acknowledged he had wanted to see a female candidate succeed him in Stirling, but said it was the local party branch's decision and Mr Connelly was a friend and an "exceptionally good candidate".

Mr Connelly, a vice president of the Stirling branch and a Scarborough local, said each nominee was given the same opportunity to convince preselectors.'