PS election fraud must be probed

FORMER Socialist Party leadership candidate Ségolène Royal is demanding the party investigate allegations of fraud in the election she lost – or sue the authors of a book making the claims.

The president of the Poitou-Charentes region says the claims – that activists in the Nord department falsified votes in favour of her rival Martine Aubry – should be lead to disciplinary action if true, or a libel case if false.

Aubry, who is Mayor of Lille in the Nord, went on to win the Socialist Party leadership election by a slim majority leading to a bitter war of words between rival camps at the end of last year.

The claims are made in Hold-uPS, arnaques et trahisons, by journalists Karim Rissouli and Antonin André.

Royal said the party had a duty to respond to the allegations.

Should the claims be true, said Royal, “it is extremely serious and nothing justifies keeping quiet about it.

"I expect of the party leadership that they will cast full light on the situation and take the disciplinary action necessary to make sure this never happens again.”

Otherwise, they must sue the authors “so the honour of the Socialist Party and its leaders can be reestablished.”

Doing nothing would be “an admission of guilt,” she said.

Royal has said even if the accusations are true she will not ask for a new vote, because she has “turned the page.”

Photo:Marie-Lan Nguyen