End of the first round! The results of the election to designate the new boss of the PS are expected on the night of January 12 to 13, 2023. Will Olivier Faure be in the second round? We already know that a hiccup canceled the vote of members abroad…
The first round of the election of the new first secretary of the PS was held on Thursday January 12, 2023. Members had until 10 p.m. to decide. Three candidates were in the running. In addition to the current Socialist Party boss Olivier Faure, Hélène Geoffroy and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol had also entered the race. At the end of this first round, the results should be known by Friday, January 13. Only the two candidates who have obtained the most votes will be able to move on to the second round, the vote of which is scheduled for Thursday, January 19.
However, we already know that none of the candidates in the first round will be able to count on the votes of members abroad. As reported The Parisian, a technical error led to the cancellation of their votes. In fact, a file containing the names, as well as the identifiers and passwords of all members was stolen. A cybersecurity flaw is mentioned by the daily newspaper of the capital. Members from abroad being the only ones to vote electronically, the others are not concerned. Nearly 300 of the 41,000 members expected to vote would still be affected.
Who are the candidates to lead the PS?
With the approach of the Congress of the PS, seven orientations were made heard but only three went until the end of the process. Unsurprisingly, the four who remained silent lined up behind the candidacy of Olivier Faure while the other two contenders to become boss of the PS are alone in the race, but have strong supporters.
- 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?
The PS did not drown in the polls before the first ballot for the election of the new first secretary. But it is easy to see that Olivier Faure takes on the role of favorite, without being assured of re-election. The man was the only one to have put forward a quantified objective for the vote on Thursday, January 12: to obtain at least 50% of the votes. This score would ensure him a victory in the second round and a majority in the authorities of the PS, which are composed according to the proportional system in relation to the result of the three candidates running in the first round.
The objective is achievable, but can also be prevented by opponents’ scores. Hélène Geoffroy estimates that she has an electoral base of at least 30%, according to her results at the previous PS congress in 2021. And the candidacy of Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol can play spoilsport. Still, it is almost certain that Olivier Faure will still be in contention in the second round on January 19. But there again, doubt is allowed in the event of an alliance between his two rivals, then “the two minority currents will combine to elect their own first federal and Olivier will not have the majority in the authorities”, analyzes a socialist near theObs.
Who votes to elect the leader of the PS?
As the election is decisive for the future of the PS, only party members are invited to take part in the ballot on January 12 and 19, 2023. A total of 41,000 encartes can vote at the ballot box, but it is unlikely that all members take part in the vote. The party does not expect more than 20,000 voters to take a stand in favor of a name. However, given the strategic importance of the PS Congress in 2023, a renewed interest could have been observed.
What are the stakes of the PS Congress?
All members of the PS agree that the 2021 Congress is full of challenges, and for good reason it is the future of the party that is at stake. Several questions arise but they can be summed up in one: should we continue on the line drawn by Olivier Faure with the alliance of the left or get out of it and try to revive the PS from its ashes? In the camp of Olivier Faure it is hammered that the alliance of Nupes was the only way to allow the party to exist in the National Assembly when the elephants of the party and the executives of the previous generation howl for the erasure of the left behind the radicalism of the rebellious.
Beyond the Nupes, the members of the PS wonder about the functioning of the party which is faltering and whose lack of framework is undoubtedly not unrelated to the historically low results of the rose party in the last elections ( 1.75% in the 2022 presidential election). “For five years, we have been working backwards. The deputies take positions which become those of the party”, deplores the deputy Valérie Rabault in theObsnot without blaming Olivier Faure at the head of the PS since 2018. She is not the only one to judge the man responsible for the loss of speed of the political formation and to be in favor of a renewal at the head party.
Finally, the last subject, linked to the first two, which must be addressed at the PS Congress: what about the electoral strategy for the next political meetings? Impossible to answer without having taken a position on the alliance of the Nupes because in function the PS will have to campaign alone or deal with the other forces of the left. But the calculation is delicate: alone, it will be necessary to work hard without being sure that the efforts bear fruit to maintain the advantage in the senatorial and municipal elections, but together the PS will inevitably have to bequeath to its left-wing allies at the risk of becoming wipe off. The culmination of the next electoral cycle being the presidential election of 2027, the PS must also prepare to present a candidate and be able to guarantee him a score worthy of the name. On this subject, some lend Olivier Faure Elysian ambitions.