Editor’s Note
This dispatch from Saint-Brieuc captures a uniquely damp campaign season in Brittany, where candidates are navigating not just the political landscape, but a relentless series of Atlantic depressions. As the eighth named storm of the year sweeps through, it serves as a stark meteorological backdrop to the democratic process.
Since the beginning of the year, Brittany has been experiencing successive rainy spells. With the eighth depression, named Pedro, municipal election candidates, in Saint-Brieuc as elsewhere, are campaigning in the rain while awaiting an announced lull.
Since January 1st, depressions have been following one another over Brittany. This week again, the eighth disturbance of the year, depression Pedro, is crossing the region. It is accompanied by a marked anomaly in atmospheric pressure, with a particularly low minimum centered on Brittany, explaining these persistent and sometimes intense rains.
In Saint-Brieuc, on Wednesday, February 18, 2026, this gloomy weather did not prevent municipal election candidates from going to the market, with hoods up and umbrellas open. In the midst of the electoral campaign, everyone adapts, between constraints and opportunities.
Under a large umbrella, Henri Alloy, a candidate from La France Insoumise, has just submitted his list to the prefecture. For him, the rain is almost an ally.
he smiles. His opponents’ posters therefore did not cover his, ensuring him prolonged visibility in the public space. The candidate also claims to maintain two door-to-door operations per week, regardless of conditions.
A little further on, on Place de la Résistance, near the soaked market stalls, Jacques and Philippe, activists for the list of outgoing mayor Hervé Guihard, distribute flyers protected as best they can from the damp.
explains one of them.
Further along the square, on Rue du Chapitre, three candidates from the list led by Victor Bonnot are chatting in their Horizons campaign office. The shop window is decorated with blue and yellow umbrellas.
assures Joëlle.
Leaving the market, one spots Joannic Martin, the center-right candidate, strolling under an umbrella in the colors of the Breton flag. We did not encounter, this Wednesday morning at the market, Pierre-Yves Thomas, head of the Saint-Brieuc la droite pour tous list, nor Alain Le Fol.
According to forecasts, a lull is expected next week across the entire region.