Socialist Party Congress: Behind the election of the first secretary, an increasingly weakened party

A sense of déjà vu. As at the Marseille congress in 2023, with its fratricidal divisions, the same two men will face off for the throne of First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS): the current holder of the title, Olivier Faure, and the mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, with a slight advantage for the incumbent, who came out on top in the first round on May 27, with a 400-vote lead. The third man in this battle, the leader of the PS deputies, Boris Vallaud, who entered the battle late in the day at this ^81st congress, will not have succeeded in preventing history from repeating itself.

Once again, this internal Socialist Party campaign was the scene of interpersonal clashes between two seemingly increasingly irreconcilable camps. A congress devoid of substantive debates or innovative ideas meant to revive the party on the eve of municipal and presidential elections, crucial in the face of the far right and for the party's survival. Supporters of the three candidates admit it: regardless of the outcome, this congress will have highlighted the moribund state of the old pink house.

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