“This is the first time, in my life as a woman as in my life as a political activist, that I have been attacked.
"Marie-Chantal Guzman, Communist candidate for the departmental in the canton of Grasse 1 (Alpes-Maritimes), claims to have been attacked, in the night from Friday to Saturday, by her rival of the National Gathering, Jean-Claude Geay.
Contacted by Le Parisien, she confirms the filing of a complaint "for violence".
Jean-Claude Geay, also contacted, denies having dealt the slightest blow to his opponent and reports for his part to have filed a handrail "20 minutes after the fact".
Since 1993, I have been active in the French Communist Party.
I participated in all the local election campaigns and ...
Posted by Marie Chantal Guzman on Friday, June 18, 2021
A point of convergence, more or less: these facts occurred in the night from Friday to Saturday "around 00:30" according to the complainant, "at nearly one in the morning" according to her opponent.
This is where a point of divergence comes in: Marie-Chantal Guzman stuck posters, but the Electoral Code stipulates that the campaign ends at 11:59 p.m. on the Friday before the vote.
"He rushes at me, he snatches the brush from my hands"
Marie-Chantal Guzman was with two political allies in front of the agglomeration community of the country of Grasse when Jean-Claude Geay arrived, accompanied by another person.
"He told me:
it's forbidden to stick it is past midnight, I'm filming you
," says Marie-Chantal Guzman, according to which the RN candidate then "dark" on her.
"He rushes at me, he snatches the brush from my hands, blocks my head with his arm, he starts hitting me on the face with the brush," she told the Parisian this Saturday morning.
The Communist candidate describes "bruises" but her rival assures that he has not dealt her a blow.
“There was a little scramble, nothing bad.
At one point, I took a brush of glue and pushed it back with it, at the level of her face, so as not to touch her with my hands, describes Jean-Claude Geay.
You can call it violence, but there was no blow, ”he insists.
"Obviously, all shots are good"
The two candidates, who claim 30 years of activism for one and 10 years for the other, denounce on the one hand "a worrying rise in violence" and, on the other, a desire to harm.
"If they want to break the RN, they do it", considers for his part Jean-Claude Geay, who denounces the "bad faith" of Marie-Chantal Guzman.
"Obviously, all shots are good," he says without perceiving the irony of his formula.
Marie-Chantal Guzman has received the support of a large part of the political spectrum.
“Fabien Roussel called me at 7 am, I had the support of Ian Brossat and others, many, from my political family and from all the left, but also from part of the right, she indicates.
Renaud Muselier (
Editor's note
, candidate (LR) to his succession in PACA) assured me of his sympathy ”.
Total solidarity with Marie-Chantal Guzman, to whom I extend my best wishes for a speedy recovery.
Violence never has its place in political life, it must be condemned and fought without any compromise!
https://t.co/SgozxOUVj2
- Renaud Muselier (@RenaudMuselier) June 19, 2021
"We fight ideas, we do not fight people," insists Marie-Chantal Guzman. The PCF candidate did not plan to change one iota the program of her weekend, as referee of an archery competition first and then, Sunday, on tour in the polling stations. "We will try to stay quieter for the second round," says Jean-Claude Geay with a smile. "It is a shame to come to this," he said.
