from Stamau123@lemmy.world to world@lemmy.world on 11 May 16:09
https://lemmy.world/post/46708989
Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth says he is ready to become first minister and form next Welsh government
Plaid Cymru has won the Welsh Senedd elections, ending 100 years of Labour dominance in Wales and blocking the momentum of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK.
The leader of the centre-left Welsh nationalist party, Rhun ap Iorwerth, said he stood ready to become first minister and form the next Welsh government, taking over from Welsh Labour, who have governed in Wales since devolution began in 1999.
The Plaid win makes a Welsh independence referendum a future possibility, and means all three of the UK’s Celtic nations will now be controlled by separatist parties.
Reform UK came second, pushing Labour into a distant third place. Plaid won 43 seats, Reform 34, Labour nine, the Conservatives seven, Greens two and Liberal Democrats one.
Speaking in Llandudno, north Wales, ap Iorwerth said: “The people of Wales have today decided on the next steps in Wales’s journey. Plaid Cymru now stands ready to take the necessary steps to form the next government.
“This is a moment 100 years in the making,” he said, referencing the party’s founding in 1925. “We have won because we represent hope over division, credibility over chaos, and progress over stagnation.”
Ap Iorwerth said his name would be put forward to be nominated as the next first minister but – with no overall majority – suggested he would talk to other parties that shared Plaid’s goals to create a fair, compassionate nation, adding: “Plaid Cymru will press ahead with those conversations with urgency.”
Under Wales’s new, more representative electoral system, at least 49 seats are needed for a majority. No party was likely to win that, but Friday’s results mean Plaid Cymru can comfortably form a minority government.
Polls consistently suggested Plaid Cymru and Reform UK were neck and neck in the race to become the biggest party under Wales’s new more proportional voting system. As in last year’s closely watched Caerphilly Senedd by-election, however, the contest was not as close as predicted.
Eluned Morgan, who took over Welsh Labour in 2024, is the first leader of a government in the UK to lose their seat while in office. Speaking at her election count in Llandysul in west Wales, Morgan said she would resign as Welsh Labour leader and took “full responsibility” for the result, but called for the UK Labour government to “change course”.
#world
threaded - newest
Hopefully they listen to Eluned, and stop trying to be British Democrats
Time to gtfo the UK and go cap in hand to the EU.
Wales was pro-brexit (52.5% Brexit) like England (53.4% Brexit). Scotland was pro EU (62% remain) and Northern Ireland too (55% remain).
Also Plaid are the largest party but don’t have a majority; they got 35.4% of the vote - way off getting a mandate for an independence referendum. Second with 29.3% of the vote was Reform, which is rabidly anti EU and a unionist party.
They’ve gone plaid!
^^^^spaceballs reference
News coverage of elections is so poor.
Plaid “won” the election with 35.4% of the vote. UK journalists are so used to the “winner takes all” First past the post system, they report proportional representation elections like this as if they’re the same. Plaid is going to be a minority government, and the reality is even if the Greens and Lib Dems went into coalition with them they would be short of a majority. Reform, Labour and Conservatives (and probably Greens and Lib Dems regardless) would not be motivated to support Plaid so it’ll be a slow process of negotiating every piece of legislation.
Wales is well used to minority governments but the stakes are higher this time for all the opposition parties, as all of them are going to be vying for Wales’ Parliamentary seats in the next general election. Plaid will too of course, but unlike the other parties Plaid is not part of the 5 way split in national politics that will dominate the next few years. So Plaid will be dealing with opposition parties that may not be that co-operative in Wales, as they care much more about how things look going into a General election.
Some might say that’s not a bad thing.