The Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru saw a net gain of 38 seats and retained control of Gwynedd Council, while also falling just short of controlling Carmarthenshire County Council.

[2] Ahead of the 2017 elections, Labour were defending 536 seats and control of ten of the twenty-two Welsh local authorities.

[9] In 2015, control of Carmarthenshire Council was lost to a Plaid Cymru led coalition,[10] whilst in 2016 the party also lost control of Maesteg Town Council for the first time since it was created in 1974 after the de-selection of several Bridgend Labour county councillors.

[15] Elections in the wards in Cyfarthfa, Merthyr Tydfil and Llandyfriog, Ceredigion were postponed following the deaths of local candidates.

[3] All registered electors (British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens) who are aged 18 or over on polling day are entitled to vote in the local elections.

[16] A person who has two homes (such as a university student who has a term-time address and lives at home during holidays) can register to vote at both addresses as long as they are not in the same electoral area, and can vote in the local elections for the two different local councils.

The Bill extends voting rights to 16 and 17 year olds and foreign citizens living in Wales, and makes it easier to register voters for future local elections.

[20][21] For comparative purposes, the table above shows changes since 2012 including Anglesey's council, which was last elected in 2013.

The Wales Green Party won their first county council seat in Powys.

This group later on went to support the council instead of the remaining five independent councillors, meaning the current coalition is made up of Plaid Cymru, Welsh Labour and Conwy First.

[36] ‡ The Welsh Liberal Democrats have since lost its only seat on the Council, therefore leaving the coalition.

Ahead of the 2022 elections, the Welsh Government established an 'Independent Review Panel on Community and Town Councils' which in October 2018 made a series of recommendations to improve future candidate diversity and address the large number of uncontested seats.