Mange politics - just weeks before the 2013 election when members objected strongly to the party's group voting tickets.[52] In New South Wales, the far–right Australia First Party was placed above the Greens, while in Western Australia the National Party was placed above Greens senator Scott Ludlam, a strong supporter of WikiLeaks and Assange.
The Sydney Morning Herald reported it was understood that WikiLeaks had "gone into a complex preference deal with micro parties, mainly right-wing, in a bid to get a candidate into the senate". The WikiLeaks Party blamed an unspecified "administrative errors" and announced an independent review would be held, and Gerry Georgatos defended the decision to place the Nationals ahead of the Greens.[53][54][55][56]
Leslie Cannold, Assange's running mate in Victoria, said a campaign staffer received a phone call that contradicted the statement by the WikiLeaks Party that the review would be immediate and independent. Instead, the review would be delayed until after the election and would not be independent.[55][57]
The review was unable to interview anyone other than Shipton, but took submissions from figures like Greg Barns. The reviewer also had "limited or no access to WLP official transcripts, minutes of National Council meetings and official emails/correspondence" and was unable to verify what he was told. The independent review rejected the claim that the decision was an "administrative error".[58]
The claim that it was an administrative error was also contradicted by leaks from within the party and several outlets.[59][60] According to leaked emails,[61][62] Assange was behind the preference deal, and attempted to give himself veto rights and to turn the National Council into a rubber stamp
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