Clement Bargain
The Socialist Party prepares its Congress, in the shadow of the discord of the election of its new First Secretary. In an attempt to reconcile for the event, Olivier Faure, elected head of the party, his opponent Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol and the fallen candidate Hélène Geoffroy met on Monday.
Is the dialogue within the Socialist Party broken? Three days before the opening of the Congress, which is to be held on January 27, 28 and 29 in Marseille, Olivier Faure and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol are still at odds. The first was proclaimed the winner, while the second proclaimed victory for his part. This Monday, the two men discussed in the presence of Hélène Geoffroy, fallen candidate in the first round.
A meeting of almost 2h30 during which the three participants were able to discuss and exchange their points of view. But the positions do not seem to have changed much. Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol continues to dispute the results. “I carried this message again today that it is time for everyone to understand that this election went wrong,” he said. “And that it shouldn’t translate into something that would be experienced as a humiliation or an imposition on each other.”
The outstretched hand of Olivier Faure to Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol
But Olivier Faure remains inflexible: he proclaims loud and clear that he has been re-elected first secretary of the PS. “In all cases, in all the places that were disputed, the commission leaned its nose on it and took votes away from one or the other. This result, it is clear, it allows us to move forward. I hope that we will agree. I hope that we can lead this party in a very collegial way.”
Olivier Faure notably proposed to Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol to be head of the list for the European elections. The mayor of Rouen declined. The two men are due to meet again during the week, hoping to find a way out of the crisis by the Congress at the end of January.