The court order said the results of the last congress of the National Liberation Front party were null and void because the gathering was not held according to the rules and regulations.

Under the order, the party's bank accounts were frozen, its headquarters and provincial offices closed down and activities suspended.

The party's leadership, which was led by former prime minister Ali Bin Fleiss -- a political foe of President Abdel Aziz Boutefliqa -- was dissolved according to the court rule.

Bin Fleiss was Boutefliqa's chief campaigner in the 1999 presidential elections and his prime minister for three years until he broke away declaring the president "a dictator who cannot tolerate opposition."

The court move came months before the next presidential elections scheduled to be held in the first half of next year.

The National Liberation Front Party has the majority in parliament as well as in municipal and provincial councils.