By Brian Meechan BBC Wales political reporter

Dafydd Wigley stepped down as Plaid president four years ago

He has put himself forward for a place on the north Wales regional list.

Each party puts forward four names in the five Welsh regions, but realistically only one or maybe two per region will be elected from one party.

Another problem for him is that Plaid always has a woman at the top of its lists.

So if selected, he would hope at best to be the second candidate on the north Wales list.

Plaid has only one seat from that list at the moment, so there are no guarantees that his attempt to return to Cardiff Bay will be a success.

Ill health

The party came close in the first assembly election in 1999 to securing a second north Wales list seat, but it was taken by the Conservatives then and again in 2003.

Plaid would have to see a significant increase in its vote - or the Tories would have to win some constituencies such as Clwyd West - in order for Mr Wigley to take his list seat.

It had been thought that Mr Wigley might stand in one of the regions where a current Plaid AM is standing down, such as the second seat on the south Wales central list.

Whatever happens at the election, his return as a candidate will be widely welcomed by the party faithful.

He led Plaid to its greatest success at the first assembly election in 1999, but ill health meant he stood down from the top job the following year.

'Duty bound'

At the time, there were also rumours that he was ousted by an internal plot. He then gave up his Caernarfon seat at the 2003 election.

But after the 1999 successes, Plaid failed to hold on, and at the 2003 election it lost the seats it had won in Labour valleys heartlands. Critics say Plaid has lost its direction and has had leadership problems since then.

Over the past year, many people within Plaid have been putting pressure on Dafydd Wigley to stand for the assembly again.

He had been reticent, but said he would feel "duty bound" to consider it if the party wanted him to.