Following Elisabeth Borne's departure from the leadership of Renaissance, Boris Vallaud is also leaving the leadership of the Socialist Party (PS). This decision comes as disagreements with the party's first secretary, Olivier Faure, have been on full display for months.

MP Boris Vallaud, president of the Socialist and Affiliated parliamentary group (members of the Socialist Party - SOC), is seen in the chamber before the French Prime Minister's first general policy speech to Parliament and the new government, followed by a debate in the National Assembly in Paris, France, on October 14, 2025. REUTERS - Gonzalo Fuentes

Boris Vallaud initiated hostilities after the municipal elections by criticizing the "ambiguity" of the Socialist Party leadership towards La France Insoumise. In a five-page letter, the attacks rained down.

Olivier Faure would have preferred "a headlong rush forward to debate and a vote." The leader of the Socialist Party deputies criticizes the party's general position for failing to make the party a viable alternative to Macronism.

But the burning issue is the strategy for the presidential election. Boris Vallaud strongly criticizes the left's primary proposal, believing it would be a recipe for failure.

The MP is taking 24 members of his faction with him, representing a third of the leadership. This is not without consequences. While it doesn't prevent Olivier Faure from remaining at the head of the Socialist Party (PS), he no longer holds a majority and will find himself isolated and struggling to get his proposals adopted within the party structures. Having come in third at the last PS congress a year ago, Boris Vallaud chose to support Olivier Faure, allowing him to retain the party leadership, in opposition to the mayor of Rouen, Nicolas Mayer-Rossignol.

A close associate of Boris Vallaud confided his view of the situation two weeks ago: "There is no crisis in the Socialist Party. The crisis is when nothing happens."

That evening, the Socialist Party leadership responded: "Nothing lasting can be built by brutalizing one's partners" on the non-Mélenchonist left. "Nothing will deter us from our determination to build a credible, solid, and winning coalition to prevent the far right from coming to power in 2027," the leadership added in a statement to AFP.