French President Francois Hollande has declared in a statement that he will not seek a second term in office in the upcoming election in 2017, becoming the first head of state not to stand for reelection in modern French history.

“I am aware today of the risk that going down a route that would not gather sufficient support would entail, so I have decided not to be a candidate in the presidential election,” Hollande said in a televised address on Thursday.

“In the coming months, my only duty will be to continue leading the state with the mandate… you elected me [for] in 2012,” he added.

During his speech at the Elysee Palace, Hollande referred to the promises and commitments he made during his election campaign. He acknowledged though that mistakes have been made and some of them, including the plans to revoke the citizenship of dual nationalist terrorists, only caused a “divide” in the nation.

Hollande is the most unpopular French President so far, with polls saying he would have not stood a chance against his rivals Francois Fillon, of the right-wing Les Republicains party, and Marine Le-Pen, of the far-right Front Nationale (FN).

In 2012, Hollande, of the centrist Socialist party, was a popular choice to replace his conservative counterpart, Nicolas Sarkozy, and won the presidency. However, in the years to come his popularity took a massive nosedive, driven by high unemployment and failed economic growth, which was promised during Hollande’s election campaign but not delivered.

An Ipsos poll from October showed that 70 percent of the French population are “unsatisfied” with Hollande, while another 26 percent are “neither satisfied nor unsatisfied” – meaning just 4 percent of the population support the president.

Source: RT