The Welsh elections will be happening at the same time as the local elections, but do deserve their own topic.

The Senedd is increasing in size this year, going from 60 seats to 96, and a party list voting system is now in place.

Eluned Morgan (Labour) is the current First Minister, although she and Labour are widely expected to lose control of the Senedd and quite badly, which is astonishing considering how much Labour have dominated Welsh politics for so long.

Plaid Cymru and Reform are touted as the potential beneficiaries in a race to control the Senedd, discuss the Welsh elections and their outcomes later, whether you live in Wales or are just observing.

Genuinely concerned. I really want Plaid to get in with Rhun as First Minister which I think will happen even if with some form of coalition with either Labour or the Greens but if Reform technically get more seats, we’ll never hear the end of it and how they were the ‘real’ winners.

Everyone I’ve spoken to wants something different. In school, most seem eager to vote Plaid, at the gym, most seem to be reformers. The Reform lot seem quite keen to talk everyone round to their way of thinking. Some people have stated their reasons and said ‘but I don’t agree with the views on Muslims’ but for me it doesn’t matter if you agree or disagree. You know what the party stands for and you’re still voting for them. Thats not good.

Reform are essentially an English Nationalist Party and it feels ludicrous that they can campaign in Wales. I fear our culture, language and even history will be under threat if Reform get in as they don’t respect any of it. They only want to win in Wales to make a point that they’re a serious party For the next general election. Wales will be collateral damage if they get a majority.

It’s way too close for my liking.

Is there a reason why the voting system has changed for this election, seems like a stick parties like Reform could use against the establishment. Or was this meant to have happened for years?

Can’t see anyone wanting to go into government with reform anyway which they’ll need to maintain a majority in the system at play,

Can anyone enlighten me about Plaid, do they make inroads throughout wales now due to their social democratic tendencies compared to the past when they did well in specific areas of Wales.

11 hours ago, T Boy said:

Reform are essentially an English Nationalist Party and it feels ludicrous that they can campaign in Wales. I fear our culture, language and even history will be under threat if Reform get in as they don’t respect any of it. They only want to win in Wales to make a point that they’re a serious party For the next general election. Wales will be collateral damage if they get a majority.

It’s way too close for my liking.

they openly want to kill devolution. Which is what concerns me the most. They are intent on recentralising at Westminster and destroying the national identity in the Celtic countries. They should know from history you cant succeed at this but reform have never been one for reading

1 hour ago, Steve201 said:

Is there a reason why the voting system has changed for this election, seems like a stick parties like Reform could use against the establishment. Or was this meant to have happened for years?

I understand that there were two issues identified:

• The Senedd's powers had been expanded since its establishment in 1999 while the size of the Senedd had remained the same (60 members). The majority of the governing party ended up in cabinet positions and that left very little manpower available for committees and other non-governmental roles in parliament. The Senedd needed to be expanded anyway.

• Wales' former distribution had 40 FPTP constituency seats and just 20 list seats. There weren't enough list seats to compensate for potential FPTP anomalies and make the results truly proportional.

3 hours ago, Silas said:

they openly want to kill devolution. Which is what concerns me the most. They are intent on recentralising at Westminster and destroying the national identity in the Celtic countries. They should know from history you cant succeed at this but reform have never been one for reading

If they do have this ideology the independence movements will just gain strength imo!

Thankfully Plaid has ended up as the largest party in the Senedd though still short of a majority. It’s ghastly how well Reform have done though even if they wouldn’t be able to form a government.

Reform actually got the most votes in my constituency though because of PR they only have two seats here and so do Plaid. Labour and Tories also got a seat each here.

Great stuff to see Plaid coming in first, Rhun seems like he'd be a good First Minister - I imagine they'll sort out a deal with Labour on those results or possibly just try and rule as a minority?

I think the Labour members will be thankful to be given a chance to help form a government. Mathematically, the only other option for Plaid is the Tories but you’d hope they’d never go down that route.