The former Pakistani Prime Minister is disqualified by the country's top election authority. But it appears his party will stay in the race.

Former Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif lost his appeal against the rejection of his nomination for next month's parliamentary elections, an official said Tuesday, eliminating a key opposition leader from the crucial vote.

The Election Commission rejected Sharif's appeal Monday, commission spokesman Kanwar Dilshad said. Dilshad declined to give details, confirming only a report in the Urdu-language Jang daily Tuesday that Sharif was out of the elections.

Sharif, who has been campaigning for his Pakistan Muslim League-N party, has been demanding that President Pervez Musharraf restore Supreme Court judges he sacked during a 42-day state of emergency that he lifted over the weekend.

Sharif's party initially called for a boycott of the vote but decided against it after failing to muster support from other opposition groups for a united action.

Sharif and his supporters can't afford to sit this one out. If they do, they will be effectively excluded from the political dialogue after the election. Also, a significant showing by his party might get the former prime minister's political rights restored, as was done for Benazir Bhutto,