Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, candidate for the head of the PS against Olivier Faure, urged the latter on Sunday to accept the principle of a new debate, without success.
Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, candidate for the post of First Secretary of the PS against Olivier Faure, was opposed by the outgoing First Secretary for his request for a new debate before the final vote of the members on Thursday.
The orientation text of Mayer-Rossignol, rather critical of the alliance of the PS with the Nupes, came second (30.51%) Thursday during a first vote of the members on the political line of the party, behind that of Olivier Faure (49.15%), who defends the agreement concluded in May with LFI, EELV and the PCF . A second vote, next Thursday, must decide between the two men, this time to designate the First Secretary of the PS, before a Congress of the party at the end of January.
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“I hope that a new debate can be organized“Wrote the mayor of Rouen on Sunday in a letter to the outgoing First Secretary. “In this spirit, I have already accepted the proposal of a television channel to organize such a debate ahead of the electionNext Thursday, continued the Norman elected official, without specifying the name of the media.
Mayer-Rossignol explained that he wanted “strongly» that Olivier Faure agrees to discuss, «so that our exchanges take place in front of the greatest number and in the most thorough way possible, with clarity, respect for people and sensibilities“.
The answer arrived on Sunday evening, through Pierre Jouvet, spokesman for the PS and close to Olivier Faure, who underlined, in a message to the press, that the outgoing First Secretary was “not looking for national notoriety unlike our adversary“.
Jouvet remarks that on January 6, the candidates have already confronted their points of view “during a debate organized by France Télévisions which lasted more than 3 hours“, and “nearly 600 debates» have also been held in the sections and federations in recent weeks.
“This congress is a militant moment. Our priority is therefore to speak to the socialists whom the First Secretary has planned to meet on the occasion of numerous trips over the next few days.“, he continues, recalling that Olivier Faure will also be”fully mobilized“Against the pension reform, in particular during a meeting of the Nupes on Tuesday evening.
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And he tackles: “activists would be interested to know if Nicolas debated with Mayer-Rossignol to decide on the line he intends to defend“.
“Is he for the union of the left, he asks, in which case this line is already embodied nationally OR has he chosen to put himself in the hands of the Dutch, signing the withdrawal and the backtracking of the PS as the past agreement suggestswith the candidate who came third, the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, Hélène Geoffroy, who obtained 20.34% of the vote.
The latter, which has the support of PS elephants, called on members to choose Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol next week.