[2] Lepère became editor of the democratic newspaper, L'Yonne, and was also a member of the Auxere municipal council, where he was an opponent of the Imperial government.

[2] Lepère was appointed to the government of Prime Minister Jules Armand Dufaure on 14 December 1877 as Under-Secretary of State for the Interior.

On 4 February 1879, shortly after the accession of Jules Grévy as president, Lepère was appointed Minister of Agriculture and Commerce.

The decrees, which required the Society of Jesus to be dissolved within three months, became questioned for its legality and was extremely controversial in both parliament and the press.

Lepère was prepared to seek reelection in the 1885 French legislative election, before his death on 6 September 1885 in Auxere due to erysipelas.