Founder admits he was preoccupied by 'trying to save the life of a young man' as more senior figures abandon party

This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Julian Assange has taken responsibility for the apparent disintegration of his WikiLeaks party, saying he overdelegated to his team while he was busy trying to save the life of the US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden.

The Victorian Senate candidate Leslie Cannold quit on Wednesday after a dispute about preferences, claiming the party was failing to live up to its democratic principles. Other senior figures then also walked away, including members of its national council.

Assange, who is holed up in the Ecuadorian embassy in London, said he had spent the past two months dealing with the Snowden asylum situation.

"[I have been] trying to save the life of a young man," Assange told ABC television on Thursday, "so I admit and accept full responsibility for overdelegating to the Australian party while I tried to take care of those situations."

He said the nine-hour time difference between Britain and Australia made it difficult to be party leader and he hadn't been aware of the internal problems until Wednesday morning.

"I went to sleep last night and during the night this whole kerfuffle broke in Australia," he said. "Leslie didn't speak to me to address any issues or concerns.

"From my perspective, if something is serious you speak to the party leader about it before you speak to the press."

Cannold's resignation came shortly after the party announced it was launching an independent review into "errors" made in its preference decisions.

The party faced criticism this week for preferencing the Shooters and Fishers party and Australia First Party before the major parties and the Australian Greens on its how-to-vote cards.

Cannold, the No 2 Senate candidate on the Victorian ticket, would have replaced Assange in parliament if Assange was not able to leave the Ecuadorian embassy.

She said it was possible that other candidates would also quit the party.

"I think there are some very serious problems and that's why I felt I had to resign," she told ABC television.

Leslie Cannold says she quit because the WikiLeaks party was not living up to its democratic principles. Photograph: Darren James/AAP

She agreed that the time difference had made communication with Assange difficult.

Another national council member, Daniel Mathews, announced his resignation late on Wednesday night, citing "the recent fiasco over Senate preferences".

Mathews was also critical of Assange for taking part in just one of 13 council meetings.

"Helping Ed Snowden is surely more important than attending a council meeting," he wrote. "But still, attending one out of the first 13 national council meetings of the party (all of which he could call in to) is a fairly low participation rate in one's own party."

Liberal senator Eric Abetz said the implosion of the WikiLeaks party highlighted the essential instability of minor parties.

"This is a lesson on the dangers of voting for minor parties," he said.