Socialist Party Congress: Faure's camp claims victory, opponents say it "has nothing to do with reality"

In recent days, supporters of Olivier Faure—who is apparently well on his way to being reappointed leader of the Socialist Party —were hoping for a clear result to avoid any possible dispute. It's a failure! This Thursday, June 5, the outgoing First Secretary and his rival, Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, appear to be neck and neck in this second round of the Socialist Party congress. So much so that, as in the last internal election in 2023, we will likely have to wait for a re-review commission this Friday to know the results.

The Faure camp, however, did not wait for the federations to finish reporting to claim victory. "With more than 91 federations reported by our local representatives, corresponding to more than 94 % of the ballots counted (out of the total number of voters on May 27), Olivier Faure is leading the vote to elect the First Secretary and, according to our estimates, this trend can no longer be reversed," warned the entourage of the Seine-et-Marne MP around midnight. According to several Faurists, the leader of the Roses would win with 52% of the vote if "the integration of the Overseas Territories" is taken into account. "There is at least a 500-vote lead for Olivier if we take into account the overseas territories that are arriving, or even more, no doubt about that," added a spokesperson for Olivier Faure. "The feedback from the teams indicates that there is a minimum difference of 386 votes. Not including the Overseas Territories (Martinique, Guadeloupe, Guyana) which will increase the gap by 200 votes," said another, speaking of an "irrecoverable gap."

But Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol isn't giving up. At 12:30 a.m. this Friday, the Rouen mayor's entourage called the press for a video update and affirmed that the results are too close to give a winner at this time. "The counting and the reporting of the results are not complete. At the moment, we are neck and neck at 50-50, so with a difference of less than 200 votes," asserted the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, Hélène Geoffroy. She added: "No one can say he won. The gap is narrower than in Marseille. We will need to calmly review the results in our committees." "What is clear is that what the leadership is communicating at this time has nothing to do with reality," abounds former senator David Assouline. According to the raw results he has in his possession, Mayer-Rossignol would only be behind by 0.75%. And can therefore make up ground, he says. Especially since not all the federations have released their results, explains the former Parisian elected official, giving the example of a federal premier who would have gone to bed without giving his department's scores to the national. "I have before me the results released by PV, there is no possible debate," retorts a member of the Faure camp.

It was already the same nighttime spectacle before the Marseille congress in 2023. At that time, both camps even claimed victory on the evening of this vote for the first secretary. The sequence had weakened a party that had no need of it and brought back the ghosts of the 2008 Reims congress with the fratricidal clash between the camps of Ségolène Royal and that of the elephants gathered at the time around Martine Aubry. In Marseille, in 2023, it finally took long negotiations at the Palais du Pharo, after days of accusations of cheating in certain federations, for the two camps to agree on a leadership led by Olivier Faure.