NSW Labor candidate Khal Asfour withdraws from election after media report about overseas expense claim

Canterbury Bankstown mayor had recently been cleared of allegations made by a former Labor MP in parliament

The high-profile New South Wales Labor candidate Khal Asfour has withdrawn from the upcoming election after media reports detailing expenses he claimed while on an overseas trip for a Sydney council surfaced.

Asfour, the Canterbury Bankstown mayor who was to run for the upper house, said through a spokesperson he had been subjected to a “vicious smear campaign” and would pull out from the race with two months until polling day.