The PS must elect a new boss on January 12 and 19, 2023 before the Congress at the end of the month in Marseille. Two voices are raised against Olivier Faure who wishes to re-enter the post of first secretary.
What direction will the Socialist Party take? The question arises at the start of the year when a new first secretary is to be elected as head of the rose party and the 80th PS Congress is looming. Important meetings set for January 2023, Thursdays 12 and 19 for the polls and the weekend of January 27 to 29 for the big family reunion organized in Marseille. Whoever will be chosen to become the boss of the PS and lead the PS Congress will have the heavy task of giving a clear course to the socialist left which has been sliding down a steep slope since the 2017 presidential election.
Olivier Faure, number one of the PS since 2018, hopes to be reappointed to the head of the party but his re-election is not guaranteed. Blame it on the discord that reigns in the ranks of the socialists since the rallying of the party to the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) carried by Jean-Luc Mélenchon. Since this merger, dissenting voices have made their wish to take control heard: Hélène Geoffroy, the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin (Rhône), and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, the mayor of Rouen (Seine-Maritime). If they do not have the popularity of Olivier Faure, these candidates can rely on weighty support and on their convictions which they defend body and soul, in particular that of re-establishing a refounded and reinforced socialist left. Three different lines clash and to find out who their preference is, socialist activists will be able to take advantage of the debate organized on January 6 on Franceinfo between the contenders for the head of the PS.
What to expect from the debate between the candidates to take the lead of the PS?
It is the only chance that the three candidates for the election of the new first secretary of the PS will have to prevail against the adversaries. And a good opportunity for members to assert their choice before the vote: a televised debate. The confrontation desired by Hélène Geoffroy will be held on Friday January 6 on the set of France info at 9 pm. For an hour and a half the candidates will discuss and present their ideas and the political line they envisage for the PS by answering questions from Nathalie Saint-Cricq and Gilles Bornstein. If this remains to be confirmed, it is possible that the debate will continue later in the evening on the twitch account of France info to allow Internet users to ask their questions to politicians.
The prospect of the debate must delight Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. The candidate and mayor of Rouen declared at the end of November during the national council of the party as recalled The echoes : “The French are waiting for us but they can’t hear us anymore […] They no longer know what we are, they no longer know what we think, they no longer know what we wear and what we fight for”.
Who are the candidates to lead the PS?
Within the PS, the lines defended by the members are numerous and form as many branches of the rose party. With the approach of the Congress, seven orientation texts were written, but of these seven lines only three stood out and proposed a candidate to take over the leadership of the political formation. And, unsurprisingly, the power in place within the PS, represented by Olivier Faure, obtained the support of the four “motions” that remained in the background: that of Johanna Rolland, mayor of Nantes and director of the presidential campaign of Anne Hidalgo , that of Laurent Baumel, placed on the left wing of the PS, that of the mayor of Ulis (Essonne) Clovis Cassan with militant accents and the feminist movement of Fatima Yadani. The candidates still in the running are:
- Olivier Faure : first secretary of the Socialist Party since 2018, the 54-year-old joined the ranks of the PS when he was 16 and gradually rose through the ranks. He has been a deputy for Seine-et-Marne and a member of the party’s leadership since July 2012. If since his election as head of the PS, Olivier Faure has been unanimous, in 2022 the political leader divided the left by agreeing to join forces with La France insoumise (LFI) to form the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) for the legislative elections. The first secretary of the PS has since been accused of “subordination” by party executives who denounce a “surrender” and an erasure of the PS behind the too radical speech of LFI. However, the boss of the Socialists argues that this alliance was the only way for the PS to maintain weight in the National Assembly.
- Helene Geoffroy : mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin and vice-president of the Metropolis of Lyon (Rhône), this socialist activist also held the position of deputy (2012 to 2016) and that of secretary of state for a year under the mandate of François Hollande. Already a candidate against Olivier Faure to take the lead of the party at the PS Congress in 2021, Hélène Geoffroy is trying her luck again and defending a line opposite to that of the current first secretary and Nupes. She is also one of the executives to see the end of the PS in this broad alliance of the forces of the left. Supported by many elected officials, the candidate is considered the representative of the right wing of the party, a position which she refutes.
- Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol : he is the mayor of Rouen and the president of the Métropole Rouen Normandie (Seine-Maritime). This PS executive entered politics by working with Laurent Fabius from 2008 in the Rouen conurbation and committed to the Region in turn as an adviser or President of the Region. He also served Laurent Fabius at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs until 2013. During the presidential election of 2022, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol took part in the campaign of Anne Hidalgo and his candidacy for the head of the PS benefits this time the support of the mayor of Paris, but also of Carole Delga, president of the Occitanie Region and the Region of France association. Like the latter, the candidate does not recognize the place of the PS within Nupes and defends a “third way” between Faure and Geoffroy. His creed? To be neither for nor against the Nupes and to reform a “social-democratic, republican, humanist and ecological left”.
What do the polls say about the election of the boss of the PS?
Polls on the chances of winning of the three candidates in the race to install themselves at the head of the PS are very rare. And only one suitor advances quantified ambitions: Olivier Faure. The first secretary general candidate for his succession and his relatives do not show false modesty and aim “at least [les] 50% alone in the first round”, reported Release November 18. What to afford the victory without going through the duel of the second round. A goal that they consider “achievable even if it will not be so easy”. Near Public Senate, also in November, Olivier Faure’s side showed less confidence, but remained confident of their chances of winning. “A congress is in essence never played, nor won in advance afterwards, you have to look in a factual and objective way: we have 59 first departmental federals out of 100 who support us, our text has been signed by more than 3000 activists. We have representatives in all the departments, we are still rather well organized, “explained the spokesman of the PS, Pierre Jouvet.
Who votes to elect the leader of the PS?
The election being decisive for the future of the PS, only party members are invited to take part in the ballot which will take place on January 12 and 19, 2023. In total, between 20,000 and 23,000 people are listed, according to figures from leadership of the party, can express themselves in favor of one of the three candidates vying to take the leadership of the party to the rose. All these members can consult the orientation texts, political lines that Oliver Faure, Hélène Geoffroy and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol intend to defend once elected number 1 of the party, since November 26. For several weeks now, some have been thinking about the turn to be given to the historic party of the left. A new wind which will blow as of January 27, date of opening of the Congress of the PS in the presence of the new first secretary.
What are the stakes of the PS Congress?
The election of the leader of the party is not held during the Congress of the PS but upstream because the meeting must mark the step of change from its first day, pushed by the new boss of the political formation. But if the ballot precedes the Congress, the event at the end of January covers other equally important issues and this year the Nupes as well as his putative father, Jean-Luc Mélenchon risk being at the heart of the discussions. The question will be to know whether, yes or no, the PS emerges stronger from this alliance or, on the contrary, loses its weight alongside the radical discourses of LFI and ecological or communist thoughts.
Without a major election in sight for the year 2023, the leadership and members of the party are already moving forward for the appointments of the next few years to restore strength to the party which is showing an undeniable loss of speed with scores of 6. .4% and 1.7% during the presidential elections of 2017 and 2022. To obtain better results in 2027, the battle will be long and will involve regaining ground which cannot be articulated without a clearly established plan of attack.