The 2021 French Socialist Party presidential primary takes place on 14 October 2021 to choose the Socialist Party candidate for the 2022 French presidential election. The vote saw the victory of the mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo, in the first round with more than 70% of the vote.. Unlike those of 2011 and 2017, this was an internal party consultation.

Background Since Benoît Hamon's defeat in the 2017 French presidential election, the Socialist Party has suffered a series of setbacks and internal divisions. Following the 2017 French legislative election, the Socialist Party (PS) held only 31 seats the National Assembly, compared to approximately ten times that number in the previous legislature. These members sat within a parliamentary group in the National Assembly renamed the New Left. Manuel Valls himself left the PS and joined the LREM group as an affiliated member.. On 1 July 2017, Benoît Hamon founded the movement, Génération.s.. For her part, Élisabeth Guigou, a former member of parliament who had just retired from political life, criticized this decision and offered Bernard Cazeneuve the leadership of the refounded and renamed party, which would retain the socialist name.. In January 2018, Stéphane Le Foll, Luc Carvounas, Olivier Faure and Emmanuel Maurel emerged as candidates for the First Secretary of the Socialist Party.. The first round of this internal election takes place on Thursday 15 March 2018.. This election saw the victory of Olivier Faure, head of the Socialist group in the National Assembly..

In preparation for the 2019 European elections, the party's national council designated essayist and co-founder of Place Publique (PP), Raphaël Glucksmann , as its lead candidate. This was the first time in European elections that the Socialist Party (PS) had not fielded its own list and the first time since 1971 that the party had allowed one of its partners to head the list on which it participated.. In protest against this list, several prominent figures, including Stéphane Le Foll and , resigned from the PS national bureau. With 6.19% of the vote, the PS recorded its lowest score in history.. Although the 2019 European elections were a failure, the 2020 municipal elections saw the party maintain its local presence, notably thanks to its alliances with EELV and the French Communist Party.

On 27 August, Olivier Faure announced the organization of an internal primary to select the party's candidate for the 2022 French presidential election.. Following the announcement of Anne Hidalgo's candidacy on 12 September, Le Monde reported that this vote have "formality" as the mayor of Paris is supported by Olivier Faure, first secretary of the Socialist Party (PS), whose policy document for re-election as PS leader, which supports her, came out on top a few days earlier.. While she confirmed that she was not in favour of a left-wing alliance until the morning of the 8 December 2021, ('a union of the left would not work because it would be "perceived as artificial'"), Anne Hidalgo proposed the organisation of a left primary on TF1's 8pm news that same day.

Candidates for the nomination Candidate (name and age)PartyMain political function(s) during the campaignCommentsPlaceAnne Hidalgo () PSMayor of Paris(since 2014)Vice-President of the métropole du Grand Paris(since 2016)She announced her candidacy on 12 September 2021..1stStéphane Le Foll () PSMayor of Mans(since 2018)President of Mans Métropole(since 2018)A former Minister of Agriculture, former government spokesperson, and close associate of François Hollande, he announced his candidacy for the primary in July 2021..2nd

Potential candidates who have withdrawn

Ségolène Royal, former minister and member of parliament, Socialist Party candidate in the 2007 French presidential election. Bernard Cazeneuve, Prime Minister of France from 2016 to 2017. Jean-Christophe Cambadélis, former first secretary of the PS..

Results Results.CandidatesPartyVotes%Anne HidalgoPS72.6Stéphane Le FollPS27.4Valid votes94.58Blank votes4.72Invalid votes1560.7Total100

References

See also

2022 French presidential election Socialist Party (France)