By Suleiman al-Khalidi

AMMAN, Aug 8 (Reuters) Jordan's Islamist opposition today accused the government of curbing political freedoms and discriminating against it to try to prevent it from making electoral gains in parliamentary elections later this year.

Zaki Bani Rusheid, the head of the Islamic Action Front, (IAF) -- the political arm of the Muslim Brotherhood and the main opposition party -- said the government's campaign led to widespread vote-rigging in local council elections last month.

The government denied it ferried tens of thousands of army recruits to vote against IAF candidates in Islamist strongholds, as alleged by the Islamists as a reason for boycotting the polls.

The authorities said the Islamists withdrew after their popularity plunged.

''We have started to witness the implementation of a plan that systematically targets us, not just because we are Islamists, but because we are calling for reforms and real political participation and demanding an end to repression,'' Rusheid told Reuters.

Prime Minister Marouf al-Bakheet stepped up the verbal war against IAF leaders, accusing Rusheid of seeking to undermine the status quo and hinted that he and others wanted to turn Jordan into an al Qaeda-inspired state.

Political analysts say the government and the Islamists are on a collision course that could lead to a ban on Islamist activities as the parliamentary elections approach.

In the previous assembly, whose mandate expired in June, the Islamists held 17 of 110 seats.

The country needed assurances the elections would be fair and impartial, monitored by outside observers, Rusheid said.

''Is this government or any future government qualified to undertake an honest and fair electoral campaign?'' he asked.

Independent analysts say the authorities fear the Islamists could make electoral gains similar to those made by their ideological ally Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.

''No one is posing as an alternative to the government or the state ... and if the Islamist movement or any opposition movement rises to executive power what harm will that do to Jordan.? Jordan will then provide a big example of democracy,'' Rusheid said.

However, he warned that any move to ban the mainstream Islamists could only help the rise of al Qaeda-style radicals.

''The alternative to eliminating the moderate Islamist movement will not be a more moderate movement but another more radical one ... al-Qaeda inspired Islamists will seize on this void ... Is this what the goverment wants?,'' Rusheid said.

REUTERS AB HT2235