The game promised to be tight and very hectic, but the betting is done.
Those expecting a rat race were disappointed.
It is after more than five hours of successive, calm and respectful interventions, at the headquarters of the PS, in Ivry-sur Seine (Val-de-Marne), that the national council of the PS - the parliament of the Socialist Party composed of 303 members- ended up validating the agreement for the legislative elections proposed by Les Insoumis and carried, against all odds, by Olivier Faure, the First Secretary of the PS.
167 members voted for (62.31%) the agreement and 101 against.
Twenty-four members abstained.
An outcome that was far from certain, as the subjects of discontent were numerous.
In electoral matters, with the allocation to the PS of 70 constituencies, of which around thirty are “winnable.
That is 507 constituencies without a socialist candidate.
And a programmatic platform containing highly contested provisions relating to the European Union such as the clause opening the possibility of derogating from the rules relating to economic and budgetary questions.
“This agreement creates a lot of wounds, and yet many of us support it,” said Laurence Rossignol, a senator close to Arnaud Montebourg, at the curtain raiser.
Mathieu Klein, mayor of Nancy, in favor of the union called for unity.
“Just as there are no irreconcilable leftists, there can be no irreconcilable socialists.
“, he called for his wishes.
The former deputy, Laurent Baumel, affirmed that the “PS will rebalance this coalition of the lefts and will change its nature.
»
“After the legislative elections we will all meet again!
»
Several elected officials, opposed to the agreement, have succeeded.
Without resentment or anger.
Those responsible for the opposition motion to Olivier Faure, “Stand up the socialists!
to Lamia El Aaraje, outgoing MP for the 15th district of Paris, granted to the Insoumise Danielle Simonnet, but who had the satisfaction of learning that her case was going to be renegotiated.
The former deputy of Bouches-du-Rhône Patrick Mennucci warned him: “What are you going to do when it is necessary to authorize burkinis in swimming pools, when it is necessary to enter the Bolivarian alliance?
".
Optimistic, Senator Rachid Temal affirmed, “whether we voted for the agreement or not, no one believes in the victory of Jean-Luc Mélenchon and after the legislative elections we will all meet again!
»
The tension rose significantly when Olivier Faure, calm and convinced, spoke.
A speech interspersed at times with the names of birds.
"Let's not forget the score that we made in the presidential election (1.75%) and that in only 12 constituencies, we made more than 3%", recalled, from the start, the First Secretary.
"Let's not forget that at the beginning, for La France Insoumise, it was 'Everything but the PS'", insisted the one who played, Thursday evening, his head, in the perspective of a Congress which must be held before the end of the year.
And Olivier Faure, to hammer, “the subject is not the debate between Jean Luc Mélenchon and us but between us and a five-year term where Emmanuel Macron will have all the powers.
If our only register is the left against the left, the only alternative to Macron and the liberals will be the right and the extreme right.
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“This vote says to which political space we belong”
“Tonight is a moment of clarification, explained Olivier Faure again.
This vote says to which political space we belong.
Are you Macron's children or are you with Jean Luc Mélenchon?
We are in a space of the left and we will not move.
“With this agreement, would we be in a form of radicalism?, pretends to wonder Olivier Faure.
But what have we carried if not a form of radicalism, with François Mitterrand who signed the common program with a dominant PCF in direct line with the Kremlin!
If we do not carry this radicality, the French will turn to other radicalities with Jean-Luc Mélenchon or the far right.
The left of government is first and foremost the left.
»
And to end with a call for unity.
“The left can only win because it is united.
We are going to be swallowed up, I am told?
But what are we afraid of?
Our political culture is more powerful than any other.
If you want to keep the old house, keep it with me”, he launched, in conclusion, to the opponents of the agreement, annoyed by his recent remarks advising them to sign or leave the party.
A few hours before this council, many elected officials had given their support – more or less firm – to this draft agreement.
Sounding like a signal, Anne Hidalgo, the mayor of Paris, however opposed to any rapprochement with La France Insoumise, had indicated that she “did not wish to prevent” its approval.
Many mayors had also called for the agreement negotiated with LFI to be adopted.
Among them, Nathalie Appéré (Rennes), Olivier Bianchi (Clermont-Ferrand), Benoît (Marseille) or Martine Aubry.
However, since that night, the Socialist Party seems more torn than ever.
Carole Delga, ultimately did not intervene.
The influential president of Occitanie, who had published a "letter to the left" explaining why she would vote "against this strategy and this agreement", had remained in Montpellier where, with Michael Delafosse, mayor of the city, she launched the campaign with the candidates in its region, whether or not they have been selected by the agreement signed with LFI.
What future for PS?
A beginning of revolt which raises the question of the future of the socialist party.
Some tenors have already announced their departure, such as Bernard Cazeneuve, former Prime Minister of François Hollande.
Others agitate the threat like Stéphane Le Foll, former Minister of Agriculture and Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, former boss of the PS.
As for the former President of the Republic, François Hollande, who “challenged” this agreement and shouted at the risk of “disappearance” of the PS, he is preparing to speak at the beginning of next week…
Read alsoNew Union Populaire: these program nuances in the agreements between LFI and its allies
But other elected officials are determined to fight within the party and better “refound” it.
“I am for the union but the account is not there neither on the constituencies nor on the program, insists the senator Rachid Temal.
I do not wish to leave the party but I want to continue to fight from within in the direction of my ideas.
I don't want to abandon the militants.
Jean-Luc Mélenchon who, before the PS had already signed with the ecologists and the communists, now has the free way to organize the Convention of the New Popular Ecological and Social Union intended to launch the united legislative campaign.
This high mass promises to be worthy of a “third round” of the presidential election, according to the wishes of the former Insoumis candidate, who came in third position with 22% of the votes, who already sees himself as prime minister of cohabitation.
It will take place on Saturday afternoon at the Docks d'Aubervilliers (93).
“At the end of the day, Jean-Luc Mélenchon will do what he wants,” sighs a parliamentarian opposed to the agreement.
