Socialist Party Congress: Boris Vallaud allows his supporters to vote freely

Boris Vallaud, who came third in the first round of the Socialist Party congress , is giving his troops the freedom to vote in the second round between the outgoing first secretary Olivier Faure and the mayor of Rouen Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, his party announced in a press release.

The Socialist MP leader's current, which obtained 17.41% of the vote behind his two rivals – which does not allow him to remain in the second round – does not take a general position. "We will not all make the same choice on June 5 for the vote on the first national secretary," he indicates, because some of his supporters come from Olivier Faure's camp and others from Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol's camp.

"Within Unir (the name of Boris Vallaud's movement, editor's note ), we come from different histories and we cherish our diversity which is our strength," adds the press release, while the two candidates for the head of the party have begun to court the man who has become kingmaker.

His movement also allows its activists the freedom to express themselves in a personal capacity, said Lot representative Rémi Branco, one of Boris Vallaud 's close associates. The latter told his supporters that he might take a position, but only in a personal capacity, his entourage said.

The Landes MP, who has positioned himself as the candidate for "reconciliation" of the party, fractured since the previous fratricidal congress in Marseille in 2023, intends to preserve the unity of his movement, but also that of the Socialist Party.

With this first vote, "no orientation text will have an absolute majority in our bodies, working together will necessarily become the rule," explains the press release. Unir will propose to the elected first secretary "a governance pact." "We will ask him for an opening of the national leadership of the PS to all sensitivities and respect for minorities," continues the text.

They also ask him to take up the proposals they have put on the table, such as the concept of "decommodification" of society, the creation of a "Léon Blum academy" and the creation of an internal media.

Unir members say they are convinced that the PS will be able to "prepare for the municipal elections" of 2026 and "the presidential election this summer, in order to occupy a central place in a joint campaign of the left from (Raphaël) Glucksmann to (François) Ruffin" .