Olivier Faure receives Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, who still disputes the result of the internal election

While the party has wavered since its internal election, the PS has barely begun to dig the hole to bury the hatchet. Olivier Faure, who claims his renewal at the head of the PS, spoke Monday with his rival Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, who continues to dispute the result.

While a congress in Marseille must ratify the results of the militant vote of January 19 at the end of the week, the outgoing first secretary invited the mayor of Rouen Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol to the party headquarters at 2 p.m., as well as Hélène Geoffroy, who could not maintain the second round and called to support the Norman elected. Both contested, on their arrival in Ivry, that the party now has an elected leader, after a ballot marked by multiple accusations of fraud on both sides.

On leaving, after two and a half hours of a meeting described as “serious”, both said they hoped to find an agreement by the Marseille congress. Saying he wanted to end “a distressing soap opera”, Olivier Faure for his part indicated that he had offered Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol and Hélène Geoffroy a “collegial direction” but not “three or four first secretaries” as they would like in the form of a “directory”. The two men also indicated that the first secretary had offered Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol the head of the list for the 2024 Europeans, refused by the latter.

“We have to start over,” advises Hollande

A new count on Sunday gave 51.09% of the vote to the incumbent against 48.91% to his rival. But Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol calls for the continuation of the recount and denounces “fraud worthy of another time”, which Olivier Faure denies. The former socialist president François Hollande judged that “when there is a dispute, the election must be started again”, during an interview with France 3 Pays-de-la-Loire. In the meantime, the three participants in Monday’s meeting must meet again before the congress after consulting their supporters.

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