Former Lebanese prime minister Omar Karami said Friday he will not run or vote in the upcoming parliamentary elections to protest a controversial election law under which the balloting will be contested later this month.

Karami, an ally of Syria, said he was also protesting what he sees as the "appointment" rather than the election of the legislature's new 128 members. He was apparently protesting the way large factions and old foes were forging election alliances that could deny fair competition among candidates.

Pro-Syrian politicians are facing an uphill battle against powerful anti-Syrian factions, which have recently joined together, to try to end the pro-Syrian sway over the legislature.

Karami, who was the last prime minister to serve before Syria completed its troop withdrawal last month, said he had never thought of boycotting the elections but he changed his mind "after seeing these (political) farces and the extent of degradation to which political circles have reached, corruption at all levels along with lies and betrayal."

Karami's move followed similar decisions by former deputy premier Issam Faris and former legislator Tammam Salam who pulled out of the election race, citing a divisive election law drawn up in 2000 at the height of Syria's control of Lebanon.

But Karami said the boycott did not mean he was quitting politics. "We will remain in political life fighting for our principles and for serving the people," he said.

Karami is the political head of a prominent family in the northern city of Tripoli that produced three prime ministers since Lebanon's independence from France in 1943. He was forced to step down on February 28 under pressure of massive anti-Syrian demonstrations following the February 14 assassination of former prime minister Rafik Hariri.

He was asked last month by President Emile Lahoud to return to form a new cabinet, but gave up after several weeks without success.

The anti-Syrian opposition had accused Karami of stalling on the formation of a cabinet in the hope of postponing the elections, which it is confident it will win.

The elections begin May 29 and take place on four consecutive Sundays. The country has been divided over the 2000 election law, which demarcated large voting districts.

Pro-Syrian legislators, who currently command the majority in parliament, want the districts to be large, as that would favor them politically. The opposition favors small districts.

But after parliament failed to approve an election law that demarcates small voting districts, opposition leaders agreed to go along with the 2000 law.

There is widespread agreement among politicians that the 2000 law sets voting districts in a way that marginalizes many Lebanese groups and boosts pro-Syrian candidates. The influential Maronite Catholic Church has sharply criticized the law, saying it produces legislators who are not truly representative.

Nevertheless, some opposition groups went along with the government's decision to apply the same law in the elections - either because it suited their electoral interests or because they felt it couldn't be changed in time to hold elections on schedule as demanded by the international community.

The results are new divisions in the anti-Syrian camp, which had been strongly united, both Christians and Muslims, following Hariri's assassination. The opposition blamed the killing on Syria and its allied government in Beirut, a charge both denied. Mass anti-Syrian protests and international pressure led to Syria to withdraw its army from Lebanon last month.

The elections, anxiously waited by the United Nations and the United States, will be the first balloting free of Syrian forces, after nearly three decades of military and political dominance of Lebanon. (Agencies)