Olivier Faure narrowly re-elected, a debated vote

Olivier Faure, the current first secretary of the PS gave his title to the game during an election whose second round was held on January 19. After a stormy ballot, the candidate was re-elected first secretary with 50.83% of the vote. A result that Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, his opponent, still does not validate.

[Mis à jour le 20 janvier 2023 à 9h23] Olivier Faure is officially re-elected as first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), by a very narrow lead, 50.83% of the vote. But the re-election was done in pain with a second round of the election of the boss of the party which took an unexpected turn last night. The two candidates vying for the post, Olivier Faure and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, each claimed victory on the night of Thursday January 19 to Friday January 20. It was in the morning that Olivier Faure’s victory over the mayor of Rouen was recorded. Olivier Faure, who defends the alliance of left-wing parties, therefore won the more mixed victory over Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol on Nupes.

Olivier Faure’s victory is however not validated by Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. In a press release shared on Twitter, the mayor of Rouen asked “that the verification commission be convened, without it no result can obviously be proclaimed”. The city councilor called “for appeasement and gathering, the French are watching us” he declared.

Hélène Geoffroy, mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin (Rhône), who campaigned for an exit from Nupes, was eliminated in the first round of voting. As a reminder, the 41,000 members of the party were asked to vote not for a new first secretary, but on the orientation texts which will frame the authorities of the PS. The texts of Olivier Faure and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol having come first during this first round, the members of the party had to decide between them during this second round.

Who were the candidates to lead the PS?

Olivier Faure won against his two rivals but not without difficulty. After the elimination of Hélène Geoffroy in the first round on January 12, it was the mayor of Rouen Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol who bowed to the outgoing candidate. But Olivier Faure’s victory was decided by a very short lead and the first secretary will have to deal with a majority that is not entirely convinced by the Nupes alliance.

• 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 has divided the left by accepting to join forces with La France insoumise (LFI) to form the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes) in view of 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.
• Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol : he is the mayor of Rouen and the president of the Métropole Rouen Normandie (Seine-Maritime). This part of the PS entered politics by working with Laurent Fabius from 2008 in the urban area of ​​Rouen, 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 both the support of the mayor of Paris, but also of Carole Delga, president of the Occitanie Region and of the Regions of France association. Like the latter, the candidate does not recognize the place of the PS within Nupes. His creed? To be neither for nor against the Nupes, and to reform a “social-democratic, republican, humanist and ecological left”.

What are the results of the first and second ballot?

During the first round, the members had placed Olivier Faure in the lead with 49.15% of the votes, against 30.51% for Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, and 20.34% for Hélène Geoffroy. In a second ballot, debated because the two finalists claimed victory. It was on the morning of Friday, January 20, that PS officially announced the victory of Olivier Faure with less than 400 votes in advance, or 50.83% of the vote, against 49.17% for Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol.

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. In total, 41,000 encartes can vote at the ballot box, but it is unlikely that all members participate 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 2023 PS congress, a renewed interest could have been observed.

What are the stakes of the PS congress?

All members of the PS agree that the 2023 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 the 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 with the erasure of the party behind the radicalism of the rebels.

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 presidential election of 2022). “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 position on the alliance of Nupes because in function, the PS will have to campaign alone or to compose with the other forces of 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 to several, the PS will inevitably have to bequeath to its left allies at the risk of s ‘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.