Hollande says to decide on candidacy for 2017 election by year-end

French President Francois Hollande on Thursday said he would announce by the end of 2016 if he will seek a second term.

Dogged by long-running rise in unemployment, Hollande has set reversing jobless claims as condition to extend his stay at the Elysee Palace.

"I ask to be judged on employment ... If a five-year period lasted 4 years, there would be difficulties," he said during a prime-time interview.

At the end of February, France numbered 3.591 million people without work, a record high since September 2013 and a strong blow to the Socialist leader, already in torrid battle to devote on broken promise to create more jobs.

"I'm undertaking a policy which is boring fruit and will bore further," the French president told voters in a move to ease worries and regain public support.

Shortly after his election in 2012, Hollande saw his popularity tumbling sharply as unemployment continued to grow.

Source: XINHUA