Republican Mitt Romney, who had lost to Democrat Barack Obama in the 2012 US presidential election, said he would not seek nomination from his party to run for the presidency in 2016, media reports said Friday.

The former Massachusetts governor shared his decision on a conference call with a small group of advisers, The New York Times reported.

“After putting considerable thought into making another run for president, I’ve decided it is best to give other leaders in the party the opportunity to become our next nominee,” Romney said in a second call to a larger group of supporters.

Romney said he could win the nomination but did not “want to make it more difficult for someone else to emerge who may have a better chance of becoming the president”.

He had expressed renewed interest in another presidential run to a group of donors earlier this month. Before becoming his party’s nominee for the 2012 election, he lost in the Republican primary in 2008. John McCain had won the nomination but lost to Obama.