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PARIS - Jacques Chirac has brought the curtain down on a 40-year political career marked by flipflops, setbacks and infrequent triumphs, declaring he will not run in next month's French presidential elections.
In an address to the French people, France's 74-year-old head of state confirmed widespread expectations that he would not seek a third term in office but instead "will serve you in a different manner".
His gravelly voice filled with emotion, and speaking against a backdrop of a huge tricolore and a smaller European flag, Chirac paid glowing tribute to France.
He painted the country as a beacon of tolerance and a bridge between cultures in an increasingly polarised world - "this magnificent France that I love as much as I love you, this France which has never stopped astonishing the world".
Beneath the patriotic gloss, though, Chirac also referred to some of France's dark preoccupations. In a veiled reference to the far-right allure of National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, Chirac urged the public to reject the "poison" of xenophobia, racism and anti-semitism. "Everything in France's soul says no to extremism," he said.
And he urged the country not to turn its back on Europe and the challenge of a global economy, which are also favoured themes of the far left and right.
Chirac had kept everyone waiting until almost the last minute before making his announcement. But his decision had been widely expected, given the crushing rebuffs he suffered in the past 18 months and the unstoppable rise of former protege Nicolas Sarkozy, now a fierce enemy.
Sarkozy, the Interior Minister, seized control of Chirac's party, the Union for a Popular Majority (UMP), and is frontrunner in the race for the Elysee presidential palace. Chirac stopped short of endorsing Sarkozy's campaign, saying he would announce at a later day which candidate he preferred.
With Chirac's departure from the scene, French politics will undergo a generational shift. Chirac is the last of those in power who served under General Charles de Gaulle, France's World War II resistance hero and architect of today's Fifth Republic.
Chirac has been a political fixture since 1967, when he was named Junior Employment Minister.
In the early 1970s, he doubled-crossed the apparent successor to Charles de Gaulle, Jacques Chaban Delmas, to help Valery Giscard d'Estaing become President, serving as Prime Minister under him from 1974 to 1976. In 1981, he betrayed Giscard and opened the way for the Socialist Francois Mitterrand to replace him.
As Mayor of Paris from 1974 to 1995, Chirac is accused of diverting taxpayers' money to fund his own party and political campaigns. Several of his closest associates from this period have been found guilty of de facto embezzlement of funds. Chirac escaped prosecution because of his presidential immunity. He may face legal action after he leaves office in May but the proceedings are likely to drag on for years and end in humiliation, rather than serious punishment.
In 1981 and 1988, Chirac ran unsuccessfully against Mitterrand for the presidency. He became Prime Minister for a second period from 1986-88, a tense spell of "cohabitation" in which the socialist head of state and conservative premier seemed to spend much of their time plotting against each other.
Chirac's turn at the top came in 1995 after Mitterrand, dying of cancer, left the scene.
In 2002, Chirac won a second term - now reduced to five years by constitutional amendment - after Le Pen made it to the election's second-round runoff. Chirac won with 82 per cent of the vote, the highest majority in French history but it was more a vote against Le Pen than any endorsement of him.
Abroad, Chirac is likely to be remembered for his hour of glory - his opposition to the US-led war on Iraq.
He may also be recognised for his passion for tolerance and cultural dialogue, although in the South Pacific he may well be recalled as nationalistic and haughty for resuming France's nuclear tests at Mururoa.
At home, though, Chirac's image is coloured by his lack of strategic vision and his tactical failures.
In 1997, he inexplicably dissolved the National Assembly, where his conservatives already had a majority, and called new elections, which were then won by the left. That meant Chirac was politically neutered, for he had to share power with Socialist Prime Minister Lionel Jospin for the next five years.
In the second Chirac tenure, riots erupted in high-immigration suburbs, massive street protests took place over the reform of youth labour laws, and the public crushingly rejected his pet project, a draft constitution for the European Union.
Still Chirac is liked by many in France. Perma-tanned, unfailingly charming, he is seen as warm and a hearty lover of life.
Polls persistently say he is the person most French people would like to have dinner with.
History, though, may be less kind. In his long career, Chirac went through innumerable rebrandings. He switched from France-first Gaullist to committed European, from pro-nuclear to greenie, from neo-Thatcher to soft leftist.
His pursuit of following whichever political wind blew earned him the nickname "La Girouette" (the Weather Vane).
A common criticism of Chirac is that he had an insatiable appetite for power but once he had it didn't know what to do with it.
"Apart from a few speeches and some clever diplomacy, it is clear that Chirac will have left no legacy of substance for future generations," says France-Olivier Giesbert, author of a new biography of Chirac.additional reporting: Independent
Jacques of all trades
* Son of a company director, born on November 29, 1932. Studied at the Ecole Nationale d'Administration.
* Became President in 1995 after two spells as Prime Minister and 18 years as Paris Mayor.
* Former French President Georges Pompidou referred to him as "bulldozer" for his ability to get things done. Other nicknames were Chameleon Bonaparte and La Girouette (Weather Vane), references to his changing political views.
* Once an anti-European Gaullist, he became one of Europe's main standard-bearers. Once a lover of all things American, he led France's opposition to the Iraq War in 2003 which chilled relations with Washington.
* His devotion to ancient Japanese and Chinese history was long kept hidden and he likes to play down his intellectual abilities.
