The members of the Socialist Party were called yesterday, Thursday, to appoint their First Secretary. The outgoing boss of the PS, Olivier Faure, was opposed to the mayor of Rouen Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. And if since last night, the two men each claim victory, the party has however given victory to Olivier Faure with less than 2% lead or 393 votes, but many appeals are expected. It is a situation that is both explosive and ubiquitous that has taken place…
The result of the vote fell this Friday morning: 50.83% of the votes for Olivier Faure, 49.17 for Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol or 393 votes out of the 23,759 voters. It is little, very little and it will undoubtedly continue to fuel the trench warfare between the two camps. A war that began at the end of the day Thursday.
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The first salvo came from the leadership of the Socialist Party around 6 p.m., with a press release from the leadership of the PS denouncing violence against scrutineers sent by Olivier Faure in Seine Maritime, the stronghold of Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. Which he had published videos showing, according to him, attempts to manipulate the ballot in polling stations rather favorable to the outgoing First Secretary.
Spikes fly on both sides until 11 p.m. The machine then races as the results begin to fall; each side begins to claim victory as soon as the competitor contradicts them… Press conferences follow one another every quarter of an hour until late at night. Phone calls to journalists too, who are criticized for giving versions that are too favorable to one or the other… And finally around 1:30 a.m. and ten minutes apart, two speeches: Olivier Faure first, who proclaims his victory, followed by Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol who also claims the seat of First Secretary.
Lots of appeals
And finally, this morning therefore, the PS declared Olivier Faure winner, arousing the fury of the teams of Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, who contest these figures and add that the appeals have not been studied. However, these appeals, and this is the only point on which the two camps agree, are extremely numerous: those responsible for collecting and compiling the results gave a press conference on the morning of Friday: there has points of contention in many federations, whether it is ballot stuffing, suspended activists who voted, or scrutineers put under pressure.
It is therefore a trench warfare that is beginning and it is very difficult to say when it will stop… For example, we do not know when the appeals examination commission will meet.
Whoever wins, it is weakened that the Socialist Party risks coming out of this sequence whose activists have suffered badly the humiliation of the last presidential. “ The show is distressing “Judges a socialist deputy. Then, the First Secretary will inevitably have an extremely divided party in front of him, even ungovernable.
It could also affect relations with Nupes, of which Olivier Faure was one of the craftsmen and therefore Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol is much less of a fan. Allies who for the moment prefer to see the positive aspect: ” both defend the unity of the left “, wants to reassure an Insoumis deputy. But while the battle against pension reform has just begun, this new psychodrama within a NUPES party is obviously a stain.
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The congress of the socialist party scheduled for Marseille next weekend promises to be under high tension because the results could still be disputed by then. What disturb things a little more, while a new mobilization against the reform is planned two days later.