Ms Parker had already been endorsed as the Liberal election candidate, but she told the Mercury last week that she felt she could not commit to another four-year term in office.

She said she did not want to trigger a by-election by retiring mid-term.

While she will remain in her seat until March, the Maitland branch of the Liberal party has called for nominations for a replacement candidate.

Nominations open at lunch time tomorrow.

Already Newcastle Liberal councillor Lisa Tierney has confirmed plans to contest the seat while Maitland ­councillor Bob Geoghegan would not rule out a tilt. When asked if he planned to run for election he responded ­cryptically “it’s early days”.

Cr Geoghegan unsuccessfully contested the role in 2003 and 2007, before Ms Parker was pre-selected in the lead-up to the 2011 election.

Cr Geoghegan took to social media on Saturday saying that he believed the most important thing for Maitland was that it remained a marginal seat.

“With regard to the upcoming March state election, I believe it is important for Maitland that it continues to be a marginal seat with both major parties presenting strong candidates and fighting hard to win the election,” he wrote on Facebook.

Cr Geoghegan told the Mercury that Maitland would be an attractive seat due to the initiatives that Ms Parker had started during her tenure, which the new Maitland MP could continue to oversee.

“She’s put a lot of good runs on the board,” he said.

Another Maitland councillor, and former Liberal party member, Philip Penfold said he had been overwhelmed by people asking whether he would run for office since Ms Parker announced her retirement.

He said some of these approaches had come from the Liberal party.

But if he decided to run for ­election, Cr Penfold said, he would do so as an independent.

Cr Penfold previously said he would not run against Ms Parker. 

“Robyn Parker had been good for Maitland and I am sorry to hear of her decision not to re-contest,” he said.

“The approaches I’ve received to run since Ms Parker’s announcement have been overwhelming, including from several local Liberal party ­members concerned that they now lack a quality candidate. 

“The Liberal party has some ­policies I can’t support, and I’m not at all convinced Labor is the solution. 

“I’ll see what transpires in coming months and make a decision based on what is in the best interests of Maitland.”

President of the Liberal party’s Maitland branch Mitchell Price said he would not run for election next March, but he had not ruled out contesting the seat further into the future.

“I won’t be nominating, I will be 100 per cent supporting whoever the endorsed candidate is,” Mr Price said.