JERUSALEM — Vice Premier Shimon Peres announced his candidacy yesterday for president of Israel.

Mr. Peres, 83, is Israel’s elder statesman, and the presidency would cap 60 years of public service at the highest levels. He ran for president seven years ago, but in a secret ballot, Parliament gave the post to Moshe Katsav, a junior politician who enjoyed the support of a prominent Israeli spiritual leader.

“This may be my last chance to serve the country,” Mr. Peres said after his Kadima Party endorsed him for the June 13 race. The term is for seven years.

Prime Minister Olmert pledged his support for Mr. Peres, himself a former prime minister, saying he would be a perfect. The ceremonial post is traditionally filled by Zionist legends and revered statesmen but has lost esteem because of the rape and other sexual misconduct charges against its current occupant, Mr. Katsav.

“The people of Israel would be honored to have Shimon Peres as its president,” Mr. Olmert said. “Shimon Peres represents everything that is right, desirable and honorable in a president.”

A member of parliament since 1959, Mr. Peres has held a succession of senior posts, including the premiership, and minister of defense, finance, and foreign affairs. He is held in high regard abroad, and shared the 1994 Nobel Peace Prize with Prime Minister Rabin and the Palestinian Arab leader Yasser Arafat.

At home, however, he is famous for his multiple electoral defeats. He served three brief stints as prime minister, but was never elected. In 2005, he bolted the Labor Party that had been his home for his entire political life to join Kadima.

The winner will be decided in a secret ballot in the 120-member Parliament. Mr. Peres is expected to face off against former Knesset spokesman Reuven Rivlin of the Likud and Colette Avital of the Labor Party.

Mr. Katsav, who insists he is innocent of any wrongdoing, stepped aside earlier in the year to battle the allegations against him, but refused to resign. His term ends in the summer.