LOS ANGELES, Sept 23 (AFP) - Struggling US presidential hopeful Ralph Nader was dealt a fresh blow to his White House bid when Oregon's Supreme Court reversed a lower court's ruling and struck him from the ballot.
The northwestern state's top court made the ruling late Wednesday, leaving the embattled Nader to fight the decision to the highest court in the country, the US Supreme Court.
Oregon's decision to remove Nader's name from the list for the November 2 came as a US federal appeals court in Illinois upheld a ruling by a lower court effectively denying him a place on the ballot in the Midwestern state.
The Oregon court ruled unanimously that the state's Democratic secretary of state, Bill Bradbury, was within his rights when he blocked Naders independent candidacy because of irregularities in his nomination petition.
The move came two weeks after a judge in the state overturned Bradbury's denial of a place for Nader on the ballot.
But the supreme court ruled that the state's top electoral official was not required to "to forthwith certify the Nader nomination as an independent candidate for the 2004 general election ballot," as the lower court ruled.
Nader, a former consumer advocate who has been blamed by some for spoiling Al's Gore's chances of winning against George W. Bush in Florida in the 2000 polls, is on the ballot in around 30 states, including Florida.
Nader said in a statement that decision by Oregon's top court deprived voters of a choice in the state.
"It is evident that our independent presidential campaign has greatly stressed a corrupt exclusionary system and that the Democratic Party will stop at nothing to deny voters the opportunity to vote for our candidacy," he said.
"They would rather limit voters choices in an attempt to force them to vote for a candidate they do not believe in and do not support or stay at home in disgust.
"The anti-democratic approach of the Democratic Party is weakening our democracy rendered already anemic," Nader added.