Victor Chabert and Maximilien Carlier
modified to
8:05 p.m., May 04, 2022
Two lines clash within the Socialist Party. On the one hand, that of the First Secretary Olivier Faure who put all his energy to arrive at the union of the left for the legislative elections. On the other, that of the local barons, like Anne Hidalgo, Carole Delga, or the elders of Holland, like Stéphane Le Foll, PS mayor of Le Mans.
The latter, apart from programmatic differences with LFI or the Greens, believe they are paying a very high price for this agreement, particularly in terms of constituencies. An example: Occitania, a region chaired by Carole Delga, the best re-elected socialist outgoing president. In the agreement, of the 49 constituencies in this region, the PS would only get six. In some historical socialist departments, it is simply wiped off the map, in favor of the Greens and the Unsubmissive. In Paris, the PS would only obtain two constituencies.
Heated debates
An agreement which therefore causes tensions and dissent. This evening, the national office of the PS meets, before a national council which will take place Thursday, May 5. During this council, which officiates as an internal parliament in the PS, the agreement will be voted or not by the members of the party. According to some PS executives, the vote will be very tight. Nothing is played and the debates promise to be very stormy.
“The Socialist Party has become almost nothing”
On the side of the militants, the anger also grows vis-a-vis the agreement. Monique is a supporter of the PS. She has always put a socialist ballot in the elections, but today she hesitates because she does not want this union of the left. “I will not vote socialist if there is an agreement. Because I do not want to leave NATO, I do not want to leave nuclear power and I am fiercely pro-European. For all these reasons, I am against it” , she says.
A few meters away, Annie, PS activist since 1974. The gathering of the lefts in 2022, she does not believe in it. “I experienced it in 1981 so I’m for it but not right now. Not with Mélenchon. I couldn’t forget the way he treated the police when there were searches. He’s someone uncontrollable.” Except that the problem, she explains, “is that the Socialist Party has become almost nothing and this agreement would be the only way to exist. But we only have to blame ourselves. We didn’t trust François Hollande enough and it hasn’t been going well since.