Port au Prince - The political party of former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide will be banned from elections scheduled for February 28, Haitian election officials announced Wednesday.

The decision prompted immediate criticism of Aristide, a populist one-time hero in Haiti, who was overthrown by an armed rebellion in 2004. From his exile in South Africa, he asked if election officials were trying "to organize an election or making a selection."

Aristide is a former Catholic priest who became Haiti's first freely elected president in 1991 and won a second election in 2000. His Lavalas Family party is still regarded as the political force more popular in the Caribbean country of 9 million people.

"The Lavalas Family party will not be allowed to participate in future elections because the legal adviser to the Electoral Council said that the party does not meet all legal requirements," Chairman of the Electoral Council Gaillot Dorsainvil said the local radio stations.

He did not specify what requirements the party failed to meet.

Eighty-eight of the 99 seats in the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament will be involved in the February election, with one third of the 30-member Senate. Voting for the remaining seat in the lower house will be held at a later date.

Aristide faces charges of corruption and despotism when he was forced from power in February 2004 during a bloody rebellion in the army and U.S. and French pressure to quit.

Sources close to the electoral council told Reuters the decision to exclude the party was motivated by suspicions that the signature on a letter faxed by Aristide, which allows local officials to register the party, has been falsified.

Last week, the Council asked the Lavalas Family, Maryse Narcisse official to provide the original letter to Aristide. He was handed over to election officials, who then decided to exclude the party.

In a rare interview, Mr. Aristide has confirmed on local solidarity radio Wednesday that he had given authority to Narcissus to register the party, and wondered if the Haitian officials would hold fair and democratic elections.

"It depends on whether the elections board wants to hold an election or making a selection," Aristide said by phone from South Africa. "If they want to hold elections, I encourage them. But if they want to make a choice, I ask them not to follow this path because it does not serve the interests of the country.

Lavalas Family has been excluded from previous elections over alleged failures to comply with legal requirements.

Allies of Aristide has accused election officials of the rejection of their party to support a new coalition close to President René Préval. The group, called "Unity", replaced Preval dissolved "Lespwa" coalition.

"Our decision was not politically motivated," said Dorsainvil. "It is based on the requirements of the Electoral Act."

Article was orginally written By Joseph Guyler Delva, Reuters