At the end of a night of protest during which everyone claimed to have won the election, the Socialist Party (PS) declared, this Friday, January 20, Olivier Faure winner with 50.83% against 49.17% for his rival. Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, the mayor of Rouen. A score based on the results from the federations and sent to the congress organizing committee. Overnight Thursday-Friday, both sides claimed victory, accusing each other of voting irregularities – irregularities that had already been revealed by The Express, two days ago. So much so that appeals and requests for cancellation of votes in sections have been announced.
“23,759 votes were cast during this election […]Olivier Faure obtained 12,076 votes or 50.83% of the votes cast, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol obtained 11,683 votes or 49.17% of the votes cast”, indicates in its press release the party, which thus records a difference of only 393 votes between the two candidates.As for the final results, they will be announced after a vote of the delegates of the Congress of Marseilles which will be held on January 27, 28 and 29, 2023, specified the PS.
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol’s camp claimed in the morning that the verification committee had not met during the night. “No final result can obviously be proclaimed without validation by the verification commission. I ask that the choice of the militants be simply respected”, reacted the mayor of Rouen in a press release. A commission for verification of the results was to meet on Friday, according to the two camps, but the press release from the PS does not mention it.
“Destabilizing our common home”
“While the Socialist Party transmitted the aggregate results of the federations, confirming the victory of Olivier Faure, we nevertheless claim the score of 54% which is, we will prove it, once the vote has been cleared of all irregularities, the result of the ballot of January 19”, affirmed for their part Friday morning in a press release the representatives of its orientation text “Winning”. “In view of the deleterious climate installed by Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol and his relatives and the seriousness of the facts observed in certain territories, we condemn the attempt to destabilize our common home”, they regret.
Two days ago, The Express revealed in fact to have had access to an internal document counting at least a thousand suspicious votes during the first round of the congress. A confidential note, tainting the sincerity of the ballot and to which each candidate – Olivier Faure, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol and Hélène Geoffroy – preferred to turn a blind eye. In this file, a long series of irregularities observed during the ballot is catalogued, federation by federation. In total, the party leadership estimates that at least a thousand votes (out of 23,179 voters) appear contentious during the first round of this 80th congress.