Paris: French President Jacques Chirac is expected to announce that he will not stand for another presidential term when he appears on national television on Sunday.
Chirac's office said on Thursday he would address "the French people" about his political future and most observers believe he will use the occasion to announce his retirement from electoral politics.
The 74-year-old leader has said he would declare his intentions in the first trimester of 2007 and all candidates have until March 16 to present to the Constitutional Council the signatures of 500 elected officials who support their candidacy.
Earlier this year, Chirac hinted that his retirement from politics was imminent, telling a TV host, "There is certainly a life after politics. Until death."
Chirac was first elected to a political office in 1967, when he became the deputy from the region of Correze.
He was elected to his first presidential term in 1995, on his third attempt, and was re-elected in 2002, garnering more than 82 percent of the vote against his opponent, rightwing extremist Jean-Marie Le Pen.
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