Labor's candidate for the seat of Hughes, Peter Tsambalas, has expressed gratitude to his supporters after withdrawing from the 2022 federal election race over section 44 citizenship concerns.
Labor's search for a new contender in the hotly contested seat, currently held by former Liberal MP Craig Kelly, comes as the deadline for Prime Minister Scott Morrison to call the election nears.
Mr Tsambalas was preselected unopposed by Labor branch members in January but was not officially endorsed as he was waiting for notification from Greek authorities he had officially renounced his Greek citizenship.
Mr Tsambalas was born in Australia and has Australian citizenship but acquired dual citizenship through his migrant parents.
Such a situation triggers section 44 of the constitution which says a person is ineligible to run for federal parliament if they are "under any acknowledgment of allegiance, obedience, or adherence to a foreign power".
"My team and I put every effort into resolving the citizenship question but it is clear we will not get there in time," Mr Tsambalas said in a Facebook post on Thursday.
"We spent several months working hard on the campaign and I believe I would have taken the fight up well in Hughes.
"I now look forward to giving whatever assistance I can to the successful Labor candidate in this important election."
Hughes is held by Mr Kelly with a 9.3 per cent margin. Mr Kelly resigned from the Liberals over controversial views on COVID-19 and is now running for the United Australia Party.
Two community independent candidates are also running in Hughes - Georgia Steele and Linda Seymour. In 2017, after several federal politicians were referred to the high court over their Section 44 eligibility, the court ruled that a candidate must take reasonable steps to renounce any dual citizenship.
