SAO PAULO, Brazil -- A magistrate suspended the Brazilian Democratic Party's presidential convention early on Saturday on grounds it was not giving a member a chance to compete as the party's candidate in October elections.

The Brazilian Democratic Party has been a traditional ally of President Fernando Henrique Cardoso's Brazilian Social Democratic Party since he took office seven years ago. It was expected to back a ticket featuring Jose Serra of the governing party for president and its own congresswoman, Rita Camata, as vice president.

But according to a statement posted on the supreme election court's Web Site, Magistrate Salvio de Figueiredo granted Sen.

Roberto Requiao's request for a "cautionary measure" suspending the convention that was scheduled to start on Saturday morning in the capital Brasilia, Reuters reported.

Requiao is making a bid to become the Brazilian Democratic Party's presidential candidate and argued he would not have been given a fair chance to win the party's support at the convention.

The party's government-allied leadership had decided to ask delegates to first vote whether or not they would support Serra as president. Requiao's request to represent the party would be put before a vote only if the party first chose to not support the Serra-Camata ticket.

The suspension could be a setback for Serra, who is trying to rally support outside his party as he tries to close the gap between himself and front-runner Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of the Leftist Workers' Party, who is about 20 percentage points ahead of second-placed Serra in opinion polls.

The Brazilian Social Democratic Party is also expected to officially nominate Serra for president this weekend at its own convention in Brasilia.