The PS executives seem flabbergasted at the turn things took this weekend when the management refused to continue the work of the verification committee. Some think that, in this context, the congress could be adjourned.
It was 1:37 p.m. yesterday when an e-mail fell in the boxes of journalists: Olivier Faure will meet Hélène Geoffroy and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol at 2 p.m. in order “to find the way to appeasement and work together”, indicates the service. of the PS press. This meeting follows a weekend of which only the socialists have the secret, between intrigues and threats… 48 hours worthy of the fourth season of Baron Noir which saw the commission of verification, responsible for recounting the votes and putting d agree the two candidates who claim victory in the internal election, interrupting its work before the end.
Out of 23,527 votes cast and after subtracting 234 disputed ballots, Olivier Faure would have obtained 51.09% of the vote against 48.91% for Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol, a difference of just over 500 votes, she announced. Problem according to Senator David Assouline, close to the mayor of Rouen, only 61 federations out of 103 had been examined.
“A terrible egoistic approach”
Since then, the two candidates opposed to Olivier Faure have asked for a total recount of the votes without success. “It was done on June 12, for the first round, why refuse it today?” wondered, yesterday, the senator Rachid Témal, support of Hélène Geoffroy. “We would like the commission of verification to go to the end of its work, it misses in particular the Pas de Calais and the Seine Saint Denis which are not small federations”, was indignant, also, a support of Nicolas Mayer Rossignol. And the same to add: “we must finish this work which was obtained with great struggle. We cannot say ‘no commission of reassembly’ and at the same time ‘there were irregularities’. Olivier Faure claimed three times his victory with different numbers each time, the ethical rules have been a little chipped.”
This Monday, Olivier Faure’s competitors therefore made this recount a prerequisite for any progress. “It may be Olivier Faure who won but I don’t know. Today he is a naked king. We should perhaps hold new elections”, even confided a senator to The Dispatch.
On the other hand, his opponents said they were ready, if Olivier Faure agreed to continue the work of the commission of verification, to integrate a collegial direction composed of Olivier Faure and Johanna Rolland on the one hand, and Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol and Hélène Geoffroy on the other hand, in order to calm things down. “There is a desire for responsibility so as not to damage the party”, assured us Rachid Témal. “Invectives, threats, intimidation and insults must stop. I feel insulted when I read a platform of 400 elected officials who treat elephants as plague victims”, sighed a senator who added: “Everyone is in a process terrible egotism, the particles must come down again in order to have a peaceful and respectful congress.”
For some, under these conditions, the Congress to be held in Marseilles this weekend could even be postponed. “It never happened, sighed a party executive adding but here, what we are experiencing is worse than the congresses of Reims or Rennes. Much worse.”
