Although Olivier Faure was re-elected as head of the PS, by a very short lead, his opponent Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol denounces “fraudulent” practices, the mayor of Rouen therefore disputes the results.
Already weakened by internal divisions over its integration into Nupes, the French Socialist Party, already very weakened by Anne Hidalgo’s score in the presidential election, is sinking into a new crisis. While the second round for the governance of the PS was being held on Friday evening, the two candidates still in the running both declared themselves the winner. On the morning of Friday, January 20, the PS formalized the victory of the outgoing secretary general, Olivier Faure, with less than 400 votes in advance, or 50.83% of the vote, against 49.17% for Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol.
Problem, the latter, the PS mayor of Rouen signs and persists, he accuses his opponent of cheating. Despite a new vote count held this Sunday still giving victory to his political rival, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol denounced “fraudulent practices that have existed in the Socialist Party for too long”, he accused at the microphone ofEuropean 1. Continuing his accusing momentum, he cited that this problem concerned certain party federations such as “Liévin, in Pas-de-Calais” but also “Bouches-du-Rhône and in other sections” denounced the man left-wing politics.
Very active on Twitter, the defeated candidate denounced many practices that would have taken place during these elections: “Ballots without envelopes, ballot boxes filled before 5 p.m., replaced by shoe boxes, moved to closed rooms, scrutineers expelled by the police, polling stations non-existent or closed before Closing time…” he posted.
In an interview with France info, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol goes further in the accusations. “There were only 24,000 voters in this ballot and the management was unable to release the result in the hours that followed. We had to wait several days, with different figures”, judged the mayor of Rouen .
Yet Olivier Faure defends himself from these accusations, despite a short lead: he declared at the microphone of France info to have “no doubt” about the foundations of his re-election at the head of the party: “There is a result which is indisputable. There were several votes which all go in the same direction”, he affirmed. The re-elected first secretary of the PS swept aside the accusations of fraud launched by Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, for Olivier Faure these are only “bad controversies”. The mayor of Rouen told Franceinfo that he was considering recourse “to legal proceedings” to restore the truth about this election which he considers fraudulent.