During the 2017 presidential election, the French Socialist Party was on the verge of collapse. Five years later, it’s at the very bottom and it shouldn’t come back anytime soon, at least in its initial form. The catastrophic result of the socialist candidate Anne Hidalgo, in the first round, [avec 1,75 % des voix]confirms the gradual decline of a party which, only five years ago, was still at the Élysée with François Hollande and which, today, has not even been able to overtake small candidates like the communist Fabien Roussel [2,28 %] or the rurality candidate Jean Lassalle [3,13 %].
“I know how disappointed you are this evening, and we will of course draw up all the balance sheets together objectively”, promised Anne Hidalgo to the dozens of activists gathered in a small restaurant in the south-east of Paris chosen by the PS to follow the results of the election night – proof that they did not expect much.
Disappointment swept through the small room, leaving activists speechless. The latter only came out of their stupor when Hidalgo made a brief appearance to acknowledge his defeat, while affirming that we should not give up.
The Republicans rolled
The atmosphere was also not looking good in the camp of the traditional right which, until five years ago, shared power alternately with the Socialists. The candidate of the Republicans (LR), Valérie Pécresse, who believed herself capable of beating Emmanuel Macron, did not achieve any of her objectives:[av[av