The Court order, in response to a complaint lodged by the party’s pro-Bouteflika "reform faction," also declared an FLN party congress held in March "null and void" because it failed to respect the party statutes, the state news agency Algerie Presse Service (APS) reported.

The party congress had re-elected Benflis secretary-general of the FLN, Algeria’s former sole ruling party, and broadened his powers while dropping its backing of Bouteflika, whom the party had propelled to power in April 1999.

The reform faction, whose leader, Foreign Minister Abdelaziz Belkhadem, accused Benflis of "confiscating" the FLN at the March party congress, is demanding a new congress.

The move, described by the French influential daily "Le Monde" as a "battle for the control of the Party was immediately denounced by Mr. Benflis as a "juridical coup" and a "pronunciamiento".

"This shows once again that the President ... will stop at nothing to slake his unquenchable thirst for power", Mr. Benflis told AFP on Wednesday.

Though expected, the decision to suspend the Party that had the largest number of seas in the Parliament created uproar in Algeria’s political circles, as it would probably prevent Mr. Benflis, a former close ally of the President to challenge Mr. Bouteflika.

The press, though not all sharing Mr. Benflis policies, expressed concern about the decision, saying it is "replacing the state of law with a state on lawlessness" and most of the political leaders, including Mr. Ali Benhadi, the second man in charge of the outlawed Front Islamique de Salut, or Islamic Salvation Front, himself banned from all political activities, also expressed sympathy with the former Premier.

The freeze implies that Benflis, a former human rights lawyer, will be unable to run as the FLN’s candidate in April, forcing him to revamp his electoral strategy, observers here said.

The administrative tribunal of the Algiers Court froze all FLN bank accounts "until the situation is brought into compliance and conformity with the law", APS reported, adding that the FLN had the right to appeal the ruling.

"But the outcome is a forgone conclusion as the Head of the State’s Council, the nation’s highest juridical instance has been already removed from office by Mr. Bouteflika after he had dismissed the competence of the administrative Tribunal last October.

In his address to the Congress, Mr. Benflis called for the Organisation, the oldest of all Algeria’s political forces and the only one with nationwide structures, to remain "independent" and refused its backing for a second mandate for Mr. Bouteflika, who so far has not spelled out publicly whether he would run in the April elections.