Elections in Wales

Charles III Heir Apparent William, Prince of Wales First Minister (list) Rt Hon Eluned Morgan MS (L) Deputy First Minister Huw Irranca-Davies MS (L) Counsel General-designate – Elisabeth Jones Chief Whip and Trefnydd – Jane Hutt MS (L) Permanent Secretary Sixth Senedd Llywydd (Presiding Officer) Elin Jones MS (PC) Leader of the Opposition Darren Millar MS (C) Shadow Cabinet Prime Minister Rt Hon Keir Starmer MP (L) Secretary of State for Wales Rt Hon Jo Stevens MP (L) Principal councils (leader list) Corporate Joint Committees Local twinning see also: Regional terms and Regional economy United Kingdom Parliament elections European Parliament elections (1979–2020) Local elections Police and crime commissioner elections Referendums There are four types of elections in Wales: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to the devolved Senedd (Welsh Parliament; Welsh: Senedd Cymru), local elections to community councils and the 22 principal areas, and the police and crime commissioner elections.

The largest unitary authorities in Wales are Cardiff, Newport and Swansea councils, which all lie in the southern coastal belt.

Voters have two votes: forty MSs are elected by the First Past the Post system in individual constituencies, and a further twenty MSs are elected by a regional top-up system in which voters vote by region.

[3] Similarly, in 2013 and 2016, the Electoral Reform Society published reports making the case for an upsize of the Assembly.

[4][5] A 2017 report of an expert commission suggested an increase to between 80 and 90 Members, switching to single transferable vote (STV) and enforcing gender quotas.

[3] A reduction in the number of Welsh MPs has been proposed for the next UK general alection.

[8] In May 2022, a joint position statement was published by First Minister Mark Drakeford and Plaid Cymru Leader Adam Price,[9] calling for a 96-Member Senedd, all elected through closed party list proportional representation (using the D'Hondt method) with mandatory "zipping" of male and female candidates in the list to ensure that for every party, half of the Members will be women.

[10] The final report of the Special Committee was published on 30 May 2022 and recommended the system agreed to by the Labour and Plaid Cymru leaders.

[11] In September 2023, the Welsh Government published its plans for electoral reform as part of the proposed Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Bill.

This date can be postponed under circumstances including public health or safety emergencies, or an early UK parliamentary election (itself expected in 2024, but can be held prior).

This follows the 1997 devolution referendum where Welsh voters narrowly approved the formation of the devolved institution.

The first leader of the Labour Party in Parliament, Keir Hardie, was one of the two MPs for Merthyr Tydfil.