Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura has left America's Reform Party, accusing it of being dysfunctional and of lurching to the right.

The former wrestler, the party's highest-ranking elected official, said he wanted the Minnesota state party to rename itself Independence Party and to break all ties with the national organisation.

"Based on what I have seen in prior years and especially in recent months, I have come to believe that the national Reform Party is hopelessly dysfunctional," Mr Ventura told a news conference.

"I can't stay within a national party that could well have Pat Buchanan as its presidential nominee."

He accused the right-wing commentator of being "an anti-abortion extremist and an unrealistic isolationist".

"In Minnesota, we cannot maintain our socially moderate identity while a right-winger heads our national ticket."

Mr Ventura dismissed suggestions that he himself would run for the White House either this year or in 2004.

Party rift

The former Navy Seal shot to national prominence in 1998 when he won the Minnesota governorship on the Reform Party ticket.

Since then, he has tried to seize control of the party from its founder, the Texan billionaire Ross Perot - a move which has opened up deep divisions among activists.

One option Mr Ventura is now considering is whether to establish a new political organisation of his own, possibly with the property tycoon Donald Trump as its first presidential nominee.

He told Minnesota party members in a letter outlining the reasons for his decision to quit that the potential for a third major national party still existed.

"If people in other states follow Minnesota's example and take up the Independence Party cause, America can still benefit from the grass-roots integrity and wisdom a national party of the political centre can provide."

Mr Ventura said he was too busy with his governor's duties to take a hands-on role in building such a national organisation.

But he did say he would serve as a rallying point, and had set up a 'Friends of Jesse Ventura' sign-up page on his website to this end.