Ron Davies described the plan as "undemocratic"

So far, just five of the 22 Welsh local authorities have voted to implement the scheme.

Eight councils have rejected the plans with nine still to decide whether to adopt the one-off severance payments.

But Mr Davies, the former AM for Caerphilly, said the Assembly Government should not have put the "undemocratic" option forward.

Under the controversial goodbyes scheme, councillors with more than 16 years' service would receive a one-off payment of �20,000 if they choose to stand down.

But Mr Davies said that councillors from the eight authorities who had rejected the scheme had "shown more sense than the administration in Cardiff".

Wrexham councillors voted against the scheme

"Under these circumstances, people are actually being bribed with tax-payers' money not to put themselves forward for election," he said.

"I think that is essentially undemocratic."

"If they are good enough they should stand, if they are not good enough, they shouldn't stand.

"Ultimately it is the people through the ballot box who will decide who is fit to represent them."

All of Wales' councils will meet individually to decide on whether to adopt the policy.

In councils which adopt the scheme, long-serving members have until 20 November to decide whether or not to accept the payment and retire at the next local government elections in May or June next year.

However, critics claim the one-off initiative for the 2004 council elections is flawed as there is nothing to prevent councillors who take the money from standing again.

Speaking to BBC Radio Wales about the case of the AMs who did not fully declare their interests, Mr Davies said the people involved were "not criminals".

He said the case, which has been referred to the police, could have been resolved internally.

He added that four assembly members had "suffered enough".

"Personally I would have thought the assembly could have dealt with it - they have suffered enough by handling all the flak."

Ann Jones (Labour, Vale of Clwyd), Mark Isherwood (Conservative, North Wales), Jocelyn Davies (Plaid Cymru, South Wales East), Eleanor Burnham (Liberal Democrat, North Wales) are the AMs involved.

In all four cases, the AMs were paying their spouses out of assembly funds, but failed to register that fact until this week - in breach of assembly rules.