Failing to pack the crowds, all the socialists say it: the election of the new boss, whose first round takes place this Thursday, is strategic. Because it follows the humiliation of the presidential election (1.74% of the votes in the first round) and the unprecedented alliance of the left in the legislative elections: the New Popular Ecological and Social Union (Nupes). Because the next mandate of first secretary will mark out the strategy of the PS for the next elections. And because, for the first time in a long time, the congress is not a foregone conclusion. “It’s more open than in Aubervilliers [en 2018] and Villeurbanne [en 2021] »says Senator Patrick Kanner.
Suspension of memberships, lies and anger: the PS under tension before its congress
This Thursday, January 12 and next January 19 (for the second round), the 41,000 voters of the PS will have to decide between three candidates for the post of first secretary. With his motion entitled “Refoundations”, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol indeed came to embody the spoilsports in a match already played (and won with 73% of the votes) by Olivier Faure against Hélène Geoffroy at the last congress. “If we weren’t there, the congress would be a foregone conclusion”considers the mayor of Rouen.
Strengthened by the support of party heavyweights such as Anne Hidalgo (mayor of Paris), Carole Delga (president of the Occitanie region) or Patrick Kanner, this close friend of Laurent Fabius offers a third way, called “central” : neither pro-Nupes like the outgoing first secretary, nor anti like the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, supported by the PS elephants. The line of ” at the same time “ à la Macron, we are ironic in the camp of Olivier Faure.
A new union… behind the PS
Because it is enough to scratch a little so that this singularity disappears. “La Nupes only exists in the National Assembly. So, to make it the alpha and omega of the left, that questions me a little ”, criticizes Lamia El Aaraje, spokesperson for the PS and Refondations. The speech is simple: the Nupes did not win the 2022 legislative elections so we must “create a new dynamic of union”, says Patrick Kanner. How ? Through states general of the left. And by focusing on “social-ecology” rather than the “social populism” by Jean-Luc Melenchon.
The camp of Hélène Geoffroy does not say anything else. “We need another union that is more balanced. And to create it, you need a strong PS! Otherwise, Mélenchon will never accept., explains the former first secretary, Jean-Christophe Cambadélis. And if the name is different (from ” seats of the left »), the result is the same: make the PS the locomotive of the left again.
PS Congress: 10 things to know about Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, candidate for the head of the party
A speech of amnesia, we judge among the supporters of Olivier Faure. We find the mayor of Nantes, Johanna Rolland, and the deputy Jérôme Guedj, who is one of the 45 socialists who wrote their support for the first secretary in a column in the “Sunday Journal”. “The Nupes agreement was signed at the hardest time in the history of the PS. And he allowed us to keep a voice and credibility with people on the left., recalls Pierre Jouvet, spokesperson for the PS who had spent several nights negotiating a compromise with LFI. Olivier Faure even believes that this decision has made it possible to put the PS back at the heart of the left, when its competitors advocate withdrawal. “This union is an addition, not a subtraction”supports Boris Vallaud, the president of the PS group in the Assembly, in an interview with “Obs”.
“LFI’s candidate is Olivier Faure”
In addition to the Nupes agreement, opponents of the first secretary blame him for the successive electoral failures since he took office in 2018: “He faced a full election cycle. And the result is 1.74% in the presidential election, a drop in the number of our MEPs, and elected officials and territories lost in local elections.knocks out Lamia El Aaraje.
The reasons for these electoral failures are legion: the failed campaign of Anne Hidalgo, the erasure behind Raphaël Glucksmann in the Europeans, the lack of work… “For five years, we have been working backwards. The deputies take positions which become those of the party”abounds the deputy Valérie Rabault, support of Refondations.
Valérie Rabault: “Without new ideas, the PS does not move forward”
A problem of orientation but also of personality, some expressing doubts on the proximity of the first secretary with the rebellious. “LFI’s candidate is Olivier Faure”expresses bluntly Patrick Kanner. “We must stop the false trials that serve the PS! We have never cut back on our values and our identity”replies Pierre Jouvet.
This rapprochement is all the more difficult since after the European elections (in 2024), the senatorial and municipal elections will take place, two elections where the Socialists are in the majority. “The idea that the number of PS elected officials should be massively reduced to make an alliance with LFI – and therefore establish them in local communities – is political suicide. And the socialist barons are not about to accept it”observes an adviser to Hélène Geoffroy.
Alliance against Olivier Faure
The mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin believes that she has the consistency of her ideas and a base of nearly 30% of voters at the last congress, but welcomes the common positions with Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. “Hélène was more and more clear on the Nupes and Nicolas was more and more clear on Olivier. So, a common basis is created for the two currents”, deciphers a longtime socialist. For an alliance? The latter slips: “It is not recorded but it is on the table. »
An agreement that would have several advantages for both lists. During the first vote on Thursday, the party parliament is elected by proportional representation of the orientation texts. If he is the big favorite, Olivier Faure could have to deal with a larger minority. “The two minority currents will join forces to have their own first federals elected and Olivier will not have a majority in the authorities”believes a connoisseur of the socialist electoral system.
“There are so few of us”
This internal battle has given rise to great tension, including accusations of lying during the debate and arbitrarily suspended memberships. “But basically, a lot of things bring us together. Fortunately, because we are in the same family “, tempers Patrick Kanner. He recalls that the very principle of an internal election is to decide between different sensitivities. “At least we have an internal debate”, he blurts out. Allusion to the rebels.
The three motions also share common dreams such as a socialist candidacy for the presidency of 2027. “Basically, Olivier Faure’s objective is to participate in a Nupes primary. Hoping that a socialist wins and obviously he imagines himself in this role ”, considers this elephant. Pierre Jouvet specifies that discussions will take place within the PS, before consulting the rest of the left.
In the meantime, the congress which will end on January 27 in Marseilles will not solve all the problems nor will it erase the strategic differences. However, the unity of socialists seems to be an obligation to survive. “There are so few of us”, sighs Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol. As a confirmation of this desertification, the party does not expect more than 20,000 voters this Thursday. It would be almost half as much as at the Aubervilliers congress in 2018.
