Have your say: PES activists statements
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A chance for France, for Europe and for the World? - 28-11-2006 14:51:29 - Only logged activists can post a comment, please sign in or register here
[This blog entry has been written by Carlos Moret, born in Argentina and living in Europe since more than 40 years. He became a PS member, seduced by the internal conviction of the party. Then he became a European citizen and joined PES activists with the intention "to contribute to the building of a strong PES for the best possible Europe we can dream of".]
A chance for France, for Europe and for the World.
France's PS elects it's presidential candidate.
On November 16th, France's Socialist activists elected Ségolène Royal it's presidential candidate for the coming elections in early 2007, by a landslide more than 60% vote.
For the first time, there is a public debate on the PS’s (France's Socialist Party) primary election.
For the first time, the PS opens itself in an effort to become closer to it's base. The number of activists almost doubled.
For the first time, the PS elects a woman candidate, mother of four, to become France's president.
The changes in the PS
The PS had been through troubled waters; firstly there was the april 2002 catastrophic defeat. Next came the referendum on the European Constitution which divided the party. Everything tended to make us think that we would be out of the race for decades.
In the Le Mans Congress Secretary General, François Hollande managed to to reunite the Party. The Party base was broadened; it was made easy and attractive for new activists to join. On the practical side, it became possible to join the party over the net, and the fee was lowered down to 20_€
The move was well timed, because it came at a moment in which there was a strong demand to participate, and once the conditions were given, new activists joined massively.
Several factors were behind this movement:
The French were traumatized by the previous presidential election in which the socialist candidate was eliminated in the first round, forcing us to vote for the centre right wing candidate on the second round in order to defeat the far right wing Front National candidate that had scored second. People understood that just voting on national elections was not enough, and, since a chance was given to us to act on the choice of our candidate, we could not miss it. Therefore we joined.
The actual Minister of Interior shows a clear right wing authoritarian tendency, and it is no secret he wants power and hence to run for president. The fear of having Mr. Sarkozy president prompted many PS sympathizers to join the Party to have a more active role in keeping him out of office.
A new figure appeared in the political scene, within the Socialist Party, who soon became very popular: Ségolène Royal, a woman, was not the classical politician, she was not a Party aparatchik.
What is so special about this election?
When the PS decided to open itself to a broader base, new activists swarmed. Most of them were left wing and had always voted left, but never took the step to join a party. The whole system did not attract them, it was not clear to see amongst the different rivalries, personal interests, inaccessible chieftains. Suddenly the PS opens its doors to us, asks us our opinion on the project by which we will govern the country, gives us a voice and a vote to choose our presidential candidate.
The vote is clear, more than 60% of the vote for a newcomer, the rest divided between the other two great leaders who had held office several times, one had been Prime Minister, the other held the economy portfolio.
Activists showed that they wanted change, a new way of making politics, and that not only new activists, but all of us.
What is so special about the elected candidate?
Ségolène Royal is no newcomer in politics, but she tended to keep a little on the side. She held office several times, but in those ministries often reserved for women: Environment (1992-1993), schooling (1997-2000), family (2000-2002). She never belonged to a current.
It is only when she ran for office in the Regional elections, and won in a traditional right-wing region that her style and dimension bloomed. She is currently President of the Region Poitou-Charentes and Congresswoman for Deux Sevres since 1988.
Apart of being a qualified person to govern, Ségolène Royal is a woman, mother of four. She dresses as a woman, talks as a woman, thinks as a woman, acts as a woman, and that is new in politics.
Whilst perfectly integrated within a representative democracy, she seeks to give as much place to participative democracy as possible. She is a very good listener that considers that the people know best what is good for them.
Another difference with traditional politicians is that Ségolène is not afraid of speaking clearly, and plainly. She is not afraid of bringing up those subjects that are taboo., neither to back up if she realizes she is wrong.
She speaks to, and listens to everybody, regardless of their social level, origin, age etc. in short, she communicates.
Mme Royale adresses the subjects the majority of the people are concerned with ; equality, which starts with school, the environment, security, employment.
In 2008 France will have the rotating presidency of the EU, and hopefully Mme. Royal will be the President. Europe is stalled - in part maybe because of the French No - hopefully in 2008 the EU will be on it's wheels again, with France up to what is expected of her!
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