LNP Member for Moggill Bruce Flegg could rise from the political grave after local party members rejected the party executive's hand-picked replacement.
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What was expected to be a routine endorsement of Dr Christian Rowan instead put the party in turmoil when a majority of members voted "no" to the former AMA Queensland president's bid for endorsement.
And in what could be a stunning political revival, Dr Flegg said nominations for LNP preselection would now be re-opened and he would be putting his hand up again to represent the party in the seat he has held for a decade.
"I am still very critical of the process but at least they allowed a vote of sorts," Dr Flegg said.
"You have to say it's a win for the electors of Moggill because finally they got to have their say and they rejected what head office had done.
"It has been a very harrowing few weeks for me, but we'll see what happens."
Dr Flegg said the LNP executive's decision to block him from standing for preselection had left many members "very disillusioned by the process".
"It is almost without precedent to get a 'no' vote in the LNP but that is one of the strengths of the LNP that that could even happen, that members got a say and could overturn a head office decision," he said.
"I take my hat off to that because at least they were prepared to listen."
Dr Flegg also took a shot at the Labor Party, saying that a groundswell of local support could never have the impact that LNP members had in Moggill and that "if the Labor Party had done this I can tell you that their members would not have had a say and head office would have had their way".
Earlier on Monday, speaking at a community cabinet held in Bundaberg, Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney blasted the LNP executive for "interfering" in the candidate pre-selection process.
"I strongly disagree with the decision that the state executive made about Bruce Flegg," he said.
"I think it is the fundamental right of people who elect local members to un-elect them, if they so choose.
"The state executive took it out of the hands of the local people who elected their local member - there are two levels when you are a loca member, you are elected by your own people at the SEC, to be the candidate, then the broader constituency elect you in the general election.
"Now at both those levels, you could be unelected at any time and it is the right way.
"But nobody else should be able to interfere with that."
Mr Seeney is understood to have argued hard for all three candidates to be dealt with by their individual branches when they were hauled in front of the executive last month to plead their case as to why they should stay, as part of a vetting process.
Gold Coast MP Ros Bates and controversial Redlands MP Peter Dowling, who brought international attention to the Queensland government when lewd photos he sent to his mistress were made public, made it through their interviews unscathed.
Dr Flegg was advised in a 30-second phone call after he left the meeting that he had been dropped.
He believes it was so the executive could install Christian Rowan, the former state Australian Medical Association president, in the seat.
Dr Flegg launched an attack on Dr Rowan through his branch newsletter last week, accusing Dr Rowan as having been associated with branch stacking.
The LNP executive denied the claims.
On Monday night a small group of protestors attended the pre-selection meeting, urging branch members not to "reward" Dr Rowan for "his support to try and force doctors onto dodgy contracts".
Dr Rowan was sidelined by the AMA during the doctor contract dispute, after indicating his support for the much maligned original contracts.
"We deserve a local member in Moggill who represents us and our families and not his own agenda," fliers the group were handing out in protest read.
"The medical community are angry that Dr Rowan sold us out when he had a duty to pursue our interests.
"Don't let that be your experience in the party room as well."
Meanwhile, Premier Campbell Newman failed to back Mr Dowling for pre-selection when asked about his chances at his branch meeting on Saturday.
"I have a very firm view about the situation, but I am not about to pre-empt the decision of the preselectors this weekend," he said.
Mr Newman said the decision rested in the hands of the "rank and file" branch members.
