The Reims Congress was the twenty-second national congress of the French

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 th ...

(''Parti socialiste'' or PS), taking place from 14 to 16 November 2008 in the city of

Reims Reims ( ; ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French Departments of France, department of Marne (department), Marne, and the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, 12th most populous city in Fran ...

in the Marne. Incumbent First Secretary

François Hollande François Gérard Georges Nicolas Hollande (; born 12 August 1954) is a French politician who served as President of France from 2012 to 2017. Before his presidency, he was First Secretary of the Socialist Party (France), First Secretary of th ...

announced that he would not run again, opening the way for a three-way battle between 2007 presidential candidate,

Ségolène Royal Ségolène Royal (; born Marie-Ségolène Royal; 22 September 1953) is a French politician who took part in the 2007 French presidential election, losing to Nicolas Sarkozy in the second round. She was the first woman in France's history to r ...

; Bertrand Delanoë,

Mayor of Paris The mayor of Paris (, ) is the Chief executive officer, chief executive of Paris, the capital and largest city in France. The officeholder is responsible for the administration and management of the city, submits proposals and recommendations to ...

; and

Martine Aubry Martine Louise Marie Aubry (; née Delors; born 8 August 1950) is a French politician. She was the First Secretary of the French Socialist Party (''Parti Socialiste'', or PS) from November 2008 to April 2012, and has been the Mayor (France), M ...

, mayor of

Lille Lille (, ; ; ; ; ) is a city in the northern part of France, within French Flanders. Positioned along the Deûle river, near France's border with Belgium, it is the capital of the Hauts-de-France Regions of France, region, the Prefectures in F ...

. Each candidate endorsed motions that would be voted upon by the eligible voters as a determinant for the endorsement of each candidate.

Motions

Six motions were presented to be voted upon by members: *Clarity, courage, creativity (''Clarté, courage, créativité''): Led by Bertrand Delanoë and supported by

, Jean-Marc Ayrault,

Michel Rocard Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister of France, Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 199 ...

Lionel Jospin Lionel Robert Jospin (; born 12 July 1937) is a French politician who served as Prime Minister of France from 1997 to 2002. Jospin was First Secretary of the French Socialist Party, First Secretary of the Socialist Party from 1995 to 1997 and th ...

, and Élisabeth Guigou. *For a staunchly ecologist Socialist Party (''Pour un Parti Socialiste résolument écologique''): Eco-socialist motion. *A World in Front, Rebuilding hope on the left (''Un monde d’avance, Reconstruire l'espoir à gauche''):

Eurosceptic Euroscepticism, also spelled as Euroskepticism or EU-scepticism, is a political position involving criticism of the European Union (EU) and European integration. It ranges from those who oppose some EU institutions and policies and seek refor ...

and staunchly left-wing current led by Benoît Hamon and supported by Henri Emmanuelli, Marie-Noëlle Lienemann, Pierre Larrouturou, and Jean-Luc Mélenchon. *Change on the Left to Change France (''Changer à gauche pour changer la France''): Left-wing motion led by

and supported by

Laurent Fabius Laurent Fabius (; born 20 August 1946) is a French politician. A member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party, he previously served as Prime Minister of France from 17 July 1984 to 20 March 1986. Fabius was 37 years old when he was a ...

, Pierre Mauroy, Jack Lang, and Arnaud Montebourg. *Hope on the left, proud to be Socialist (''L'espoir à gauche, fier(e)s d'être socialistes''): Motion led by Gérard Collomb on the behalf of

and supported by Vincent Peillon, and

Manuel Valls Manuel Carlos Valls Galfetti (born 13August 1962) is a French–Spanish politician who serves as Minister of the Overseas in the Bayrou government since 2024. He served as Prime Minister of France from 2014 until 2016 under president Françoi ...

. *Socialists, Alterglobalists, Ecologists (''Socialistes, Altermondialistes, Écologistes''): Motion led by the Utopia current.

Results of the Motions vote

128,978 out of 233,000 eligible voters took part in the election by motion, which represents a turnout of 55.38%

First-Secretary run-off

Bertrand Delanoë dropped out of the race for First Secretary during the Reims Congress and endorsed

the next day.

stayed in the race, as did Benoît Hamon (endorsed by Utopia). Royal led in the first round of voting held on Thursday 20 November with around 42% against 34% for Aubry. Hamon had around 22% of the votes and was eliminated. He endorsed Aubry for the runoff, held the next day. According to official results, Aubry won by a tiny margin of 42 votes, although Royal did not concede and called for a third round to be held. A PS National Council examined the results on Tuesday 25 November. In the recount, Aubry was declared the winner with wider margin of 102 votes First round Second round

References

{{French Socialist Party Congresses of the Socialist Party (France) 2008 in France 2008 in politics History of Reims 2008 conferences October 2008 in France 2000s political conferences 21st century in Grand Est