Miranda MP Eleni Petinos is being challenged for Liberal Party preselection after serving just one term.
Her challenger is barrister and Gymea branch member Jeffrey Clarke.
Party sources say the branch and Mr Clarke are aligned to the moderates in the shire’s Liberal ranks, but he will be supported by the conservatives, who also want Ms Petinos gone.
Conservatives say leaders of the moderates faction are “playing the gender game” in portraying the challenge to Ms Petinos as coming from “a male” amid claims of bullying of women Liberal MPs at a federal level.
“It’s laughable because Jeff Clarke is married to a local solicitor and has five daughters,” one source said.
“We have learnt he nominated two months ago, and party officials have only recently passed him through the review process.
“They sent out the left-wingers to find something to get rid of him, but they failed.”
The source said Ms Petinos had been “a big disappointment”.
Ms Petinos was supported by the conservatives when she won preselection for the 2015 election, but soon switched to the moderates faction, led in the shire by Councillor Kent Johns, who is also state Liberal Party president.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has told her party she wanted all her sitting MPs returned.
Mr Clarke was a barrister in Britain before moving to Australia, where he was admitted to the bar in 2012.
Preselection contenders are banned by party rules from commenting.
The Labor Party has chosen former NSW Woman of the Year Jennifer (Jen) Armstrong as its candidate for Miranda.
