Olivier Faure reappointed as head of the Socialist Party

The Socialist Party (PS) announced on the morning of Friday, June 6, that its current first secretary, Olivier Faure, has been reappointed to his post . Faure won 50.9% of the vote, compared to 49.1% for his main opponent, Rouen Mayor Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol.

"My congratulations to Olivier Faure and his supporters," Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol reacted to the results on his X account. The Normandy mayor also took the opportunity to thank the approximately 12,000 activists – "nearly half" of the voters, he insisted – who had chosen him. "Thank you to the activists who have renewed their trust in me ," Olivier Faure rejoiced . "From tomorrow, we will continue the work we started in 2018 to build momentum, with a socialist party anchored at the heart of the left."

A result "recognized by all," assures a press release from the Socialist Party, announcing the absence of any challenge to the vote by the opponents of the Seine-et-Marne MP. Moreover, although the results of certain federations are still awaited, they will no longer be able to reverse the result of the vote , the party announced. Two years after the Marseille congress, which saw the same two candidates fight for victory for several days, against a backdrop of accusations of fraud, the night of Thursday to Friday – the approximately 40,000 members of the party had until 10 p.m. to choose the party's leadership – gave rise to a new quarrel over numbers, albeit more measured.

Olivier Faure's camp quickly claimed victory, while his rival's camp spoke of a margin of votes too close for anyone to claim to be in the lead. "We are neck and neck, no one can say who won," retorted the mayor of Vaulx-en-Velin, Hélène Geoffroy, shortly after midnight, referring to a margin of "less than 150 votes." The same tone was echoed by former senator David Assouline, who then estimated that "what the leadership communicated has nothing to do with reality."

"The final result will be very close in any case," added the supporters of the mayor of Rouen (from the president of Occitanie, Carole Delga, to the mayor of Saint-Ouen, Karim Bouamrane), seeing it as "a disavowal" of the outgoing leadership. Olivier Faure came out on top in the first round on May 27, with 42.21% of the vote, while Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol reached 40.38%.

Boris Vallaud, the leader of the Socialist parliamentary group and the third party figure to enter the race, only received 17.41% of the vote, preventing him from reaching the second round. Vallaud had indicated at the time that he would vote for the outgoing First Secretary in a personal capacity, without giving any voting instructions to his troops and warning that his choice was not "a blank check" for Olivier Faure, whom he blames for a lack of internal work and the division within the party.

Olivier Faure's victory also reflects his political strategy for the upcoming presidential election, the main point of contention with the Mayer-Rossignol camp, which is openly following in the footsteps of former President François Hollande. The reappointed First Secretary of the Socialist Party (PS) advocates a union of the left—without La France Insoumise (LFI) —ranging from Raphaël Glucksmann to François Ruffin. Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol—who has repeatedly deplored the PS, which he believes is the victim of "a weakening and shrinking" —advocates for the construction of "a large party" uniting the Socialists and those who gravitate around them, such as Raphaël Glucksmann and former Prime Minister (2016-2017) Bernard Cazeneuve.

The mayor of Rouen has mainly presented himself as the spokesperson for the socialists who denounce too close a connection with La France Insoumise. And this, even if the two political parties have openly distanced themselves from each other, both after the creation of Nupes in 2022 and that of the New Popular Front (NFP) in 2024. "I have no regrets about what we did," replied Olivier Faure, emphasizing that when the NFP came out on top in the early legislative elections in 2024, "Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol did not consider it to be nonsense."