The Aubervilliers Congress (french: congrès d'Aubervilliers) of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
(PS) was held on 7 and 8 April 2018 near the
Front Populaire station of the
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro (french: Métro de Paris ; short for Métropolitain ) is a rapid transit system in the Paris metropolitan area, France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architec ...
in
Aubervilliers
Aubervilliers () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Albertivillariens'' or ''Albertivillariennes''.
Geography
Localisati ...
,
Seine-Saint-Denis
() is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobig ...
. The congress determined the political line of the party and elected
Olivier Faure as the next
First Secretary after the resignation of
Jean-Christophe Cambadélis on 18 June 2017.
Luc Carvounas,
Olivier Faure,
Stéphane Le Foll, and
Emmanuel Maurel
Emmanuel Maurel (born 10 May 1973 in Épinay-sur-Seine), is a French politician. He was a member of the board of the French Socialist Party. He was a candidate for the leadership of the Socialist Party but lost against Harlem Désir, winning a ...
stood as candidates for the leadership of the party. After the orientation text submitted by Faure secured a near-majority of support from activists in the first round, Le Foll, who came in second, announced his withdrawal, effectively ensuring that Faure would be elected as the new leader of the party.
Background
On 9 December 2017, the National Council of the
Socialist Party
Socialist Party is the name of many different political parties around the world. All of these parties claim to uphold some form of socialism, though they may have very different interpretations of what "socialism" means. Statistically, most of t ...
(PS) agreed to hold the next party congress near the
Front Populaire station of the
Paris Métro
The Paris Métro (french: Métro de Paris ; short for Métropolitain ) is a rapid transit system in the Paris metropolitan area, France. A symbol of the city, it is known for its density within the capital's territorial limits, uniform architec ...
in
Aubervilliers
Aubervilliers () is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, Île-de-France region, northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. The inhabitants of the commune are known as ''Albertivillariens'' or ''Albertivillariennes''.
Geography
Localisati ...
,
Seine-Saint-Denis
() is a department of France located in the Grand Paris metropolis in the region. In French, it is often referred to colloquially as ' or ' ("ninety-three" or "nine three"), after its official administrative number, 93. Its prefecture is Bobig ...
on 7 and 8 April 2018. The choice of the location is considered a symbolically important "wink", referencing the left-wing
Popular Front
A popular front is "any coalition of working-class and middle-class parties", including liberal and social democratic ones, "united for the defense of democratic forms" against "a presumed Fascist assault".
More generally, it is "a coalition ...
coalition that came to power in 1936.
The party congress comes a year after the end of the
quinquennat
A constitutional referendum was held in France on 24 September 2000.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p674 The proposal to reduce the mandate (politics), mandate of the President of the French Repub ...
of
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
* President (education), a leader of a college or university
* President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ...
François Hollande, who decided not to run for re-election amid tepid approval ratings. In the subsequent
primary,
Benoît Hamon
Benoît Hamon (; born 26 June 1967) is a French politician known for his former role within the Socialist Party (PS) and Party of European Socialists (PES) and his political party Génération.s.
Hamon joined the Socialist Party in 1988 and ...
was nominated as the presidential candidate of the party, but secured only 6.36% of the vote in the first round of the
presidential election
A presidential election is the election of any head of state whose official title is President.
Elections by country
Albania
The president of Albania is elected by the Assembly of Albania who are elected by the Albanian public.
Chile
The pre ...
, the worst score for a socialist candidate since 1969. The party suffered further losses in the legislative elections, winning just 30 seats, compared with 278 in 2012, and
First Secretary Jean-Christophe Cambadélis subsequently announced his resignation as leader of the party. The successive defeats left the party with a considerable financial burden: in addition to the €15.072 million in expenses from Hamon's presidential campaign, public financing, based on the number of votes in the legislative elections, fell from €24.9 million to €7.6 million, and the PS subsequently announced the sale of its historic headquarters on the
rue de Solférino for €45.5 million on 19 December.
The PS was led by "collegial direction" beginning in July until
Rachid Temal was appointed as "legal representative" and coordinator of the party on 30 September. The congress was held in the context of the lack of a clear political identity for the Socialist Party, with
La France Insoumise
La France Insoumise (FI or LFI; ; "France Unbowed") is a left-wing populist political party in France, launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims ...
to the left,
La République En Marche! to the right, and Hamon departing the party to found the movement
Génération.s. According to an
Ifop-Fiducial poll conducted in early February 2018, only 8% of respondents (and 35% of PS supporters) considered the PS to best represent the opposition to
Emmanuel Macron, compared to 37% for
La France Insoumise
La France Insoumise (FI or LFI; ; "France Unbowed") is a left-wing populist political party in France, launched in 2016 by Jean-Luc Mélenchon, then a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and former co-president of the Left Party (PG). It aims ...
, 26% for
The Republicans, and 20% for the
National Front.
Organization
The procedures of the congress were changed slightly from previous years', with the removal of "general contributions" before motions, with the latter reduced to 50,000 characters. In addition, the requirements to submit a motion was raised, requiring the signatures of 5% of members of the National Council (i.e., 16 members). These changes were put to a vote among party members on 18 January, and the modifications were approved, with partial results on 19 January indicating 67.37% in support of the changes and a turnout level of 23.34%. Prospective candidates for
First Secretary were required to submit an "orientation text" with a list of signatories presenting their political project to the National Council by 27 January, with the same requirements as motions.
In a statement published on 23 February, the party announced that a televised debate between the four candidates would be held on 7 March from 21:00 to 22:00 CET in cooperation with
LCI,
RTL, and ''
Le Figaro
''Le Figaro'' () is a French daily morning newspaper founded in 1826. It is headquartered on Boulevard Haussmann in the 9th arrondissement of Paris. The oldest national newspaper in France, ''Le Figaro'' is one of three French newspapers of r ...
''.
On 15 March, party members voted on the orientation texts, with supporters of each motion represented at the congress in proportion to their support within each of the departmental federations, therefore influencing the future composition of the party leadership. Members voted again on 29 March, deciding between the top two motions in the previous vote, determining the First Secretary of the party, and electing the new leaders of departmental federations. All party members up-to-date on contributions before 31 December 2017 were eligible to participate, in addition to former members from 2015 onward who pay the membership fee for 2018. The Aubervilliers Congress took place on 7 and 8 April, designating the national leadership of the party.
Candidates
Validated
*
Luc Carvounas, deputy for
Val-de-Marne's 9th constituency
*
Olivier Faure, president of the
New Left group
The Socialists and affiliated group (french: groupe Socialistes et apparentés ) is a parliamentary group in the National Assembly including representatives of the Socialist Party (PS).
History
The first socialist parliamentary group emerge ...
in the National Assembly and deputy for
Seine-et-Marne's 11th constituency
*
Stéphane Le Foll, deputy for
Sarthe's 4th constituency
*
Emmanuel Maurel
Emmanuel Maurel (born 10 May 1973 in Épinay-sur-Seine), is a French politician. He was a member of the board of the French Socialist Party. He was a candidate for the leadership of the Socialist Party but lost against Harlem Désir, winning a ...
,
Member of the European Parliament
A Member of the European Parliament (MEP) is a person who has been elected to serve as a popular representative in the European Parliament.
When the European Parliament (then known as the Common Assembly of the ECSC) first met in 1952, its ...
Invalidated
*
Delphine Batho,
deputy for
Deux-Sèvres's 2nd constituency
*Myriam Petit
Renounced
*
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem
Najat Vallaud-Belkacem (; ar, link=no, نجاة فالو بلقاسم; Riffian-Berber: ⵏⴰⵊⴰⵜ ⴱⵍⵇⴰⵙⵎ; born 4 October 1977) is a former Moroccan-French jurist and politician of the Socialist Party (PS) who was the first Fre ...
, former
Minister of National Education, Higher Education and Research
Vote on orientation texts
See also
*
2017 The Republicans (France) leadership election
*
French Socialist Party presidential primary, 2017
The French Socialist Party held a two-round presidential primary to select a candidate for the 2017 presidential election on 22 and 29 January 2017. It was the second open primary (''primaires citoyennes'') held by the center-left coalition, afte ...
References
External links
Proposed calendar and organization{{French Socialist Party
2018 conferences
2018 elections in France
2018 in politics
21st century in Île-de-France
April 2018 events in France
Congresses of the Socialist Party (France)