The mayors of Lille, Martine Aubry, and of Nantes, Johanna Rolland, the president of the Occitanie region Carole Delga and the senator Patrick Kanner were also present at this meeting, which was held Wednesday evening in the Senate, according to Le Monde which has revealed the information.

This meeting, at the initiative of the socialist candidate, who finished the campaign around 2% in the polls, aimed to "discuss and position themselves to see how to conduct the last hours of the campaign" and then consider the reconstruction of the left, she explained to the press during a trip to Rouen, three days before the first round of the presidential election.

"My role is to bring people together, to take the pulse, to listen to advice," she explained.

But "tomorrow (Friday) I will see Olivier Faure", she explained, assuring that she would continue to "meet and call women and men who are important, not only to go to the end of this first round but also to prepare the continuation, that is to say the legislative ones".

"It is a question of allowing to have in our country a republican left opposition, which is strong in the National Assembly. We will have to be all together, there is no room for individual adventures My role is to bring them closer," she insisted.

Her entourage explains that the candidate "speaks to everyone, but pairs do not speak to each other".

This is particularly the case between Olivier Faure and François Hollande.

"The fact that Olivier Faure was not there should not be interpreted as the fact that she would be one of those who think it was her fault. Absolutely not", we insist.

Within the PS, some were moved by this meeting without the first secretary.

"I was very surprised to learn about this dinner, it's neither the right timing, nor the right format to imagine what's next, nor the right people around the table," an executive from the company told AFP. PS.

In Rouen, a socialist city where Anne Hidalgo announced her candidacy in September, she came to "close the loop" and "thank the activists who fought in very, very bad weather".

"You were heroic," she insisted.

© 2022 AFP