The New South Wales Greens MP Dawn Walker has formally requested a recount of the party’s preselection vote, as the fallout from the factional war within the state branch of the party continues to escalate.

The upper house MP wrote to Greens head office on Tuesday demanding a recount of the ballot, citing “serious democratic flaws” in the result following the party’s decision to ask Jeremy Buckingham to vacate his spot on the ticket for the next state election in March.

In a letter seen by Guardian Australia, Walker wrote that a recount was “vital to ensure that the preferences of the almost one-third of Greens NSW members who voted for Jeremy Buckingham No 1 in the preselection ballot are not disenfranchised”.

She said the ticket put forward should reflect “the democratic intention of members and our key principle of grassroots democracy”.

It follows the decision on Saturday by the Greens state delegate council to pass a motion calling on Buckingham to remove himself from the party’s ticket. Following the decision, Buckingham said the party processes had been “abused and co-opted for factional purposes” and said he was considering his legal options.

A factional ally of Buckingham, Walker is hoping to secure a recount of the preselection ballot in the hope of having her position on the ballot bumped up from the unwinnable fourth position to second.

In May, the NSW upper house MP David Shoebridge claimed top spot on the party’s ticket ahead of Buckingham in the preselection ballot – 1,161 primary votes to 780.

It marked an important victory for the party’s left faction and meant Buckingham was relegated to third spot on the ticket below Abigail Boyd because the party’s rules stipulate that at least one of the top two spots must be held by a woman.

Boyd secured second spot on preferences ahead of Walker, who entered the upper house last year, replacing retiring MP Jan Barham. But supporters of Walker hope if a recount were to occur, Walker could overtake Boyd off the back of Buckingham’s preferences.

“In the event that Jeremy Buckingham is not on the NSW Greens Legislative Council ticket for the 2019 NSW state election, the preselection ballot that determined the ticket will have serious democratic flaws and the make-up of the ticket will not reflect the democratic intention of the members of the NSW Greens,” Walker wrote on Tuesday.

“If Jeremy was excluded from the count and his 780 first-preference votes were distributed prior to the first count, the order of the ballot may have been different and would have directly elected a woman into the second position, as per the Greens NSW constitution.”

But the Greens’ NSW co-convener Sylvia Hale said that while the party would give Walker’s request “due consideration”, a recount would “be a break from precedent and would involve establishing a new process”.

“The Greens NSW constitution and preselection rules do not currently provide for a recount,” she said.

Walker’s demand marks the latest escalation of a factional war that has gripped the party since Greens state lower house MP Jenny Leong used the parliament to accuse Buckingham of committing an “act of sexual violence” against party aide Ella Buckland in 2011.

An independent investigation was unable to substantiate Buckland’s claims, and Buckingham has strenuously denied them.

However, Leong’s speech under parliamentary privilege caused a deep rift within the party and led to open hostilities within the NSW branch of the party, leading to Saturday’s motion.