2011 National Assembly for Wales election

Electoral method

In general elections for the National Assembly for Wales, each voter has two votes in the so called additional member system for mixed-member proportional representation. The first vote may be used to vote for a candidate to become the Assembly Member for the voter's constituency, elected by the 'first past the post' system. The second vote may be used to vote for a regional closed party list of candidates. Additional member seats are allocated from the lists by the d'Hondt method, with constituency results being taken into account in the allocation. The overall result is approximately proportional.

Results

• Overall turnout: 42.2% |- |- !rowspan=3 colspan=2 | Parties !colspan=10 | Additional member system !rowspan=2 colspan=5 | Total seats |- !colspan=5 |Constituency !colspan=5 |Region |- ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Total !! +/− !! % |- |votes % = 42.3 |AMS votes % = 36.9 |Seats % = 50.0 |votes % = 25.0 |AMS votes % = 22.5 |Seats % = 23.3 |votes % = 19.3 |AMS votes % = 17.9 |Seats % = 18.3 |votes % = 10.6 |AMS votes % = 8.0 |Seats % = 8.3 |votes % = N/A |AMS votes % = 4.6 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 0.2 |AMS votes % = 3.4 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = N/A |AMS votes % = 2.4 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 0.7 |AMS votes % = 2.4 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = N/A |AMS votes % = 0.9 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = N/A |AMS votes % = 0.3 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 0.1 |AMS votes % = 0.2 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = N/A |AMS votes % = 0.2 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = N/A |AMS votes % = 0.1 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 1.3 |AMS votes % = 0.1 |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 0.3 |AMS votes % = N/A |Seats % = 0.0 |votes % = 0.2 |AMS votes % = N/A |Seats % = 0.0 |- | || Total || 949,252 || || || 40 || || 949,388 || || || 20 || || 60 || || |}

(source:)

Votes summary

Opinion polls

Constituency vote ([[First-past-the-post voting|FPTP]])

Regional vote ([[Mixed-member proportional representation|AMS]])

Constituency and regional summary

Constituency nominations

NB: candidates in bold text were the incumbent assembly members. Non-incumbents are represented in italics. Members elected in 2011 are highlighted with party colours.

Regional lists

[[Mid and West Wales (National Assembly for Wales electoral region)|Mid and West Wales]]

Ian Harrison, Gareth Ratcliffe, Keith Evans, Stephen Kaye, Dan Munford, Evan Price Matthew Dorrance, Iqbal Malik Mark Cole, Edward Wilson, Steffan John, Gemma Bowker

[[North Wales (National Assembly for Wales electoral region)|North Wales]]

Janet Haworth, Julian Thompson-Hall, Ranil Jayawardena, Samantha Cotton, Martin Peet, Sam Rowlands, John Broughton Heledd Fychan, Dyfed Edwards, Liz Saville Roberts Eleanor Burnham, Mark Young, Anne Williams, Victor Babu

[[South Wales Central (Senedd Cymru electoral region)|South Wales Central]]

Lyn Hudson, Richard Hopkins, Christopher Williams, Kyle Smith, Axel Kaehne, Helen Hancock Chris Franks, Delme Bowen, Richard Grigg Eluned Parrott, Rachael Hitchinson, Elgan Morgan, Andrew Sherwood

[[South Wales East (Senedd Cymru electoral region)|South Wales East]]

Caroline Oag, Benjamin Smith, Paul Pavia, Susannah Beatson-Hird, Paul Williams, Paul Stafford Bleddyn Hancock, Jonathan Clark

[[South Wales West (Senedd Cymru electoral region)|South Wales West]]

David Lloyd, Myfanwy Davies, Linet Purcell Stuart Rice, Cheryl Green, Wayne Morgan, Frank Little

Target seats for the main parties

Below are listed all the constituencies which required a swing of less than 7.5% from the 2007 result to change hands.

Labour targets

Plaid Cymru targets

Conservative targets

Liberal Democrat targets

New members

23 of the members elected to the assembly in the election were not members of the previous Assembly.

• Mick Antoniw, Labour, Pontypridd
• Byron Davies, Welsh Conservative, South Wales West electoral region
• Keith Davies, Labour, Llanelli
• Suzy Davies, Welsh Conservative, South Wales West electoral region
• Mark Drakeford, Labour, Cardiff West
• Rebecca Evans, Labour, Mid and West Wales electoral region
• Janet Finch-Saunders, Welsh Conservative, Aberconwy
• Russell George, Welsh Conservative, Montgomeryshire
• Vaughan Gething, Labour, Cardiff South and Penarth
• Llyr Huws Gruffydd, Plaid Cymru, North Wales electoral region
• Michael Hedges, Labour, Swansea East
• Julie James, Labour, Swansea West
• Julie Morgan, Labour, Cardiff North
• Eluned Parrott, Liberal Democrat, South Wales Central electoral region
• William Powell, Liberal Democrat, Mid and West Wales electoral region
• Gwyn Price, Labour, Islwyn
• Jenny Rathbone, Labour, Cardiff Central
• David Rees, Labour, Aberavon
• Aled Roberts, Liberal Democrat, North Wales electoral region (see below)
• Antoinette Sandbach, Welsh Conservative, North Wales electoral region
• Ken Skates, Labour, Clwyd South
• Simon Thomas, Plaid Cymru, Mid and West Wales electoral region
• Lindsay Whittle, Plaid Cymru, South Wales East electoral region

On 17 May it was discovered that two of the newly elected AMs, John Dixon and Aled Roberts, held posts which disqualified them from election to the assembly. Although they had formally taken their seats at the first meeting on 11 May, they were then removed from membership of the Assembly. Both resigned the posts which had given rise to the disqualification. After taking legal advice, the Presiding Officer Rosemary Butler was told that she must formally declare their seats vacant on Friday 27 May, which would mean the candidates placed second on the list being elected unless motions were tabled to reinstate the two. Motions to reinstate Dixon and Roberts were subsequently tabled, and the Assembly Commission issued a press statement explaining the legal situation as they saw it.

The Liberal Democrats withdrew the motion to reinstate John Dixon on 5 July 2011, after the assembly standards commissioner Gerard Elias QC made clear that he had failed to take notice of the relevant rules. On 6 July, Eluned Parrott was sworn in as an AM in his place, and the Assembly voted to readmit Aled Roberts, as evidence showed that he had been directed to out-of-date information in Welsh.

Defeated members

Eight incumbent AMs were defeated at the polls.

• Eleanor Burnham, Liberal Democrat, North Wales electoral region
• Nick Bourne, Welsh Conservative, Mid and West Wales electoral region
• Nerys Evans, Plaid Cymru, Mid and West Wales electoral region
• Chris Franks, Plaid Cymru, South Wales Central electoral region
• Veronica German, Liberal Democrat, South Wales East electoral region
• Helen Mary Jones, Plaid Cymru, Llanelli
• Dai Lloyd, Plaid Cymru, South Wales West electoral region
• Jonathan Morgan, Welsh Conservative, Cardiff North

Retiring members

The following incumbent AMs did not offer themselves for re-election:

• Lorraine Barrett, Welsh Labour, Cardiff South and Penarth
• Mick Bates, Independent (elected Liberal Democrat), Montgomeryshire
• Alun Cairns, Welsh Conservative, South Wales West electoral region
• Jane Davidson, Welsh Labour, Pontypridd
• Andrew Davies, Welsh Labour, Swansea West
• Brian Gibbons, Welsh Labour, Aberavon
• Irene James, Welsh Labour, Islwyn
• Gareth Jones, Plaid Cymru, Aberconwy
• Trish Law, Independent, Blaenau Gwent
• Val Lloyd, Welsh Labour, Swansea East
• Rhodri Morgan, Welsh Labour, Cardiff West
• Jenny Randerson, Liberal Democrat, Cardiff Central
• Janet Ryder, Plaid Cymru, North Wales electoral region
• Karen Sinclair, Welsh Labour, Clwyd South
• Brynle Williams, Welsh Conservative, North Wales electoral region (died 1 April 2011).

Notes

References

References

1. (2011-05-06). "Welsh Tory leader Nick Bourne loses regional seat". BBC News.
2. (16 March 2011). "2015 Welsh assembly election delayed, says Carwyn Jones". [[BBC News]].
3. [http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2011/14/section/5/enacted Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011] section 5
4. "2011 Assembly Election Results May 2011". National Assembly for Wales.
5. The deadline for the receipt and determination of anonymous electoral registration applications was the same as the publication date of the notice of alteration to the Electoral Register (i.e. the fifth working day before election day).
6. "Results and turnout at the 2011 National Assembly for Wales Election".
7. "BBC News - Election 2011 - Wales".
8. (9 February 2011). "Probe into Tory candidates' sexist jokes on Facebook". BBC News.
9. "Welcome to my website".
10. "Log in to Facebook".
11. (2 February 2011). "Labour student to fight Assembly election on Anglesey".
12. (12 May 2011). "Record of Proceedings". National Assembly for Wales.
13. (17 May 2011). "Two Welsh AMs temporarily disqualified on technicality". BBC News Online.
14. Powys, Betsan. (25 May 2011). "The Lib Dem two and the no-named day motion". BBC News Online.
15. (25 May 2011). "Statement from the National Assembly for Wales Commission". National Assembly for Wales.
16. (6 July 2011). "Barred Lib Dem Aled Roberts regains Welsh assembly seat". BBC News.