France: Olivier Faure and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol in the running for the post of leader of the PS

Jean-Luc Mélenchon, the leader of La France insoumise (LFI), and Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), at the National Assembly, April 28, 2020 (Illustration image).

What is at stake in the election of the first secretary of the PS is also the future of the PS within Nupes.

AFP - DAVID NIVIERE

Text by: RFI Follow

1 min

The first ballot for the Congress of the Socialist Party was held yesterday, Thursday 12 January.

The 41,000 members had to choose who would compete when choosing the first secretary of the PS next week.

The final results are not yet announced but we already know the two finalists.

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Olivier Faure and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol will face each other in the second round.

The outgoing boss of the Socialist Party comes first, obtaining around half of the votes, followed by the mayor of Rouen, who gathers around 30% of the votes.

The mayor of Vaulx en Velin, Hélène Geoffroy, who won over one in five voters, is eliminated. 

Place now in the battle for the designation of the first secretary, next Thursday.

Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol believes he has created momentum and is now in a position to overthrow Olivier Faure.

But for that, it will be necessary to fill up the votes among the supporters of Hélène Geoffroy, the line faithful to former President François Hollande.

The mayor of Rouen therefore also appeals to the abstentionists: indeed, only half of the socialist members went to the polls on Thursday.

The PS-Nupes alliance to be clarified for Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol

A new campaign begins with challenges to be met on both sides: for Olivier Faure, it will be necessary to avoid the demobilization of his supporters because of his comfortable lead.

Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol will have to clarify his position on the maintenance of the PS in Nupes.

It is about the support of the supporters of Hélène Geoffroy - excluded from the second round and firmly opposed to the alliance.

Several of the mayor of Rouen's supporters have also discreetly joined another political party in recent months, the Radical Left Party, which had refused to join the Nupes alliance, recalls

, from the political service.

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• France

• French politics

• Olivier Faure