Île-Molène (France) (AFP) – “It would hurt my heart,” said Didier Delhalle with a touch of bitterness. Without a candidate to succeed him, the mayor of Molène fears seeing the small Breton island lose its identity and become a “Eurodisney park”.

Published on: 07/02/2026 - 10:35

This "earthling", native of the Paris region, with a round face and white beard, decided to join the continent for family reasons, in March.

Problem: no matter how hard he tries, no one wants to succeed him. Already in 2020, he was the only candidate to run for the mayor's chair, which is akin to a priesthood in a small town (184 inhabitants) where the chief magistrate is called upon "24 hours a day".

“The most difficult thing to resolve is neighborhood disputes,” he said, sitting in the municipal council room.

Six years ago, each councilor was still elected individually, by majority vote in two rounds, then the council elected a mayor. There were 13 candidates for 11 places.

But since a law of May 21, 2025, intended to improve parity, municipalities with less than a thousand inhabitants have been subject to list voting. “Bullshit,” Mr. Delhalle gets angry. “In Molène, people vote for people. It’s blocked with the list vote.”

Less than three weeks before applications close (February 26), no names have emerged. “People are lazy, afraid of the unknown or don’t want to invest more than that,” says Marie Le Bihan, 30, watching her goats graze facing the sea.

On this "stone" of 0.7 km2, off the coast of Finistère, traders also fear "the mixing of genres", saying they fear that their workplace will become an annex town hall.

“Criticism is very easy for the Molénais. From one day to the next, you are elected and there is so-and-so who no longer speaks to you,” explains Agathe Seïté, a secondary resident, who spoke about it with former elected officials.

The absence of candidates is not unique to Molène: 106 municipalities found themselves in this situation in the 2020 municipal elections and 62 in 2014, according to the Ministry of the Interior.

An island without land register or tax

In the absence of candidates, the island risks finding itself under the supervision of a "special delegation" of representatives of the prefect, pending new elections. If the problem persists, it could even be attached to a coastal municipality, warns the sub-prefect of Brest Jean-Philippe Setbon.

The only French municipality, with the island of Sein, to be exempt from land register and local taxes, Molène would then see its taxation aligned with its home municipality.

A prospect which does not overly panic Patrick Seïté, a sixty-year-old sitting on a bench at the port, who says he "has not set foot in France (sic) for five years".

“There has always been one in Molène!” says Nicole, an octogenarian in a blouse, waiting for her newspaper on her doorstep. “Whoever lives will see…”, she philosophizes.

In the deserted “ribines” (small Breton streets) of the village on this February afternoon, the tension is still far from being palpable.

“The purebred Molénais, that doesn't worry them, because they don't leave the rock,” confirms the mayor, who is worried about seeing the island become “a Eurodisney park”, without public services or permanent shops, with maritime connections reduced to the bare minimum.

“We are going to lose advantages. And for the projects, we are going to be blocked”, adds Marie Le Bihan, who does not exclude being a candidate for the council “so that the island remains with the Molénais”.

Because a last chance meeting is scheduled for February 19 to try to encourage vocations. “We will be a week away from closing: it’s the last hope,” says Agathe Seïté, who took the initiative.

“We are going to try to play on this sense of urgency so that those who are hesitant get started,” she says, even if “we will probably have a mayor in spite of himself, or in spite of herself…”

© 2026 AFP

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