Jérôme Peyrat, invested by LREM for the legislative elections in Dordogne, withdraws his candidacy. His conviction for domestic violence in 2020 was controversial.
The investiture of Jérôme Peyrat in the legislative elections, in the 4th constituency of the Dordogne, put the presidential camp in trouble. This afternoon, the mayor of La Roque-Gageac, political adviser to La République en Marche, withdrew his candidacy. Sentenced for domestic violence in 2020, Jérôme Peyrat had nevertheless been invested, to the great astonishment of the outgoing LREM deputy, Jacqueline Dubois, who intended to stand for re-election.
“I hear that my candidacy for the legislative elections could harm my political family. I withdraw it,” said Jérôme Peyrat to AFP. “I invite each and everyone to look precisely at the facts of which I am accused, the court decision and the other decisions taken in this case”, he adds however.
This decision would have been taken in consultation with the general delegate of LREM Stanislas Guerini, according to a press release from the latter. The latter, guest of the morning of Franceinfo this Wednesday, May 18, had again given his support to Jérôme Peyrat, affirming that he was an “honest man” whom he did not believe “not capable of violence on women”. Following the withdrawal of Jérôme Peyrat, Stanislas Guerini returns to his remarks in a press release: “I do not in any way question a court decision, which carries out independent work.[…] I spoke with Jérôme Peyrat today, and we agreed together that he withdraw his candidacy.
Jérôme Peyrat sentenced for violence against his partner
Jérôme Peyrat was sentenced for domestic violence on September 18, 2020, to a suspended fine of 3,000 euros. This conviction related to facts dating from December 30, 2019: an argument then broke out between Jérôme Peyrat and his partner, about to separate, in their car. Following this dispute, his partner had filed a complaint. An examination at the hospital had earned him a total incapacity for work of 14 days. Sentenced a few months later, Jérôme Peyrat did not appeal. Later, interviewed by the media, he gave his own version of the facts: “I was driving, she ripped off my glasses, I tried to control her, she was hit in the chin, I did not try to hit her,” he told Release. He also recalled that his former companion had in turn been convicted of malicious calls and was prohibited from approaching him, his parents and his children.
However, point Mediapart in an article published on May 14, the judgment rendered by the Angoulême court in 2020 noted inconsistencies and “adjustments” between the first account of the facts by Jérôme Peyrat to the gendarmes and what he said afterwards, after having learned of the precise medical assessment of his ex-companion.
Stanislas Guérini came to the defense of Jérôme Peyrat
“I took the time to read the expected [du jugement]to understand, to know if basically we could have someone who could be capable of voluntary violence”, affirmed the general delegate of LREM this Wednesday, May 18 on Franceinfo. “I believe and I am even firmly convinced that that was not the case. […] If I had the conviction or even the suspicion that we have to do with someone who could be violent and guilty of violence against women, I would never have accepted this nomination.” Stanislas Guérini also pointed out that his party “perfectly respected the court decision, which is not a decision of ineligibility”, and that Jérôme Peyrat “would submit to the judgment of the French, the only one worthwhile”.
Outgoing MP Jacqueline Dubois will be a legislative candidate
On May 7, the confederation Together! unveiled a list of nominations, including Jérôme Peyrat. Immediately, the outgoing LREM deputy for the 4th constituency of Dordogne, Jacqueline Dubois, protested, soon joined by two local committees of the LREM party in her constituency, in Terrasson and Sarlat. This Wednesday, May 18 morning, Jacqueline Dubois formalized her candidacy in the 4th constituency of Dordogne, in dissent. Beyond the domestic violence case, the outgoing LREM MP could not stomach not having been reinvested for the 2022 legislative elections by the majority. “I took the time to reflect and rediscover the energy of the beginnings, and I make mine this sentence from Elisabeth Borne: ‘nothing should hinder the place of women in our society'”, declared Jacqueline Dubois to France Bleu Périgord, cleverly quoting the newly appointed Prime Minister. The deputy also recalled that she had beaten Jérôme Peyrat in the 2017 legislative elections, in this same constituency, where he was then invested by the Les Républicains party. Jérôme Peyrat had not even reached the second round.
Will Jacqueline Dubois now obtain the official nomination of the presidential majority? Unless Together! decides to invest someone else.