Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill

The Senedd Cymru (Electoral Candidate Lists) Bill was introduced by the Welsh Government to mandate gender zipping on the closed party lists being introduced for the 2026 Senedd election: parties would have been required to alternate male and female candidates, guaranteeing approximately 50 per cent women among elected Members of the Senedd (MSs). The Senedd voted 40-12 to withdraw the bill on 24 September 2024, following a Welsh Government written statement on 16 September. The vote drew support for withdrawal from Labour, Plaid Cymru, Conservative, and Liberal Democrat MSs — an unusual cross-party alignment against the government's own proposal.

The Welsh Government substituted non-binding guidance in place of the statutory requirement. The consequence is direct: the 2026 Senedd election, the first ever run under a Closed-list proportional representation system producing 96 seats across 16 constituencies, has no legal floor on women's representation. Internal party list ordering, decided by each party independently, now determines the gender balance of the chamber. A party could place all its women at the bottom of every constituency list and be fully compliant. The withdrawal came just 13 months before nominations closed for the election the bill was designed to shape.

When results are called on election night, gender balance will be the first test of whether voluntary party guidance delivers in practice what the bill would have required by law. If women's representation in the new chamber falls significantly below 50 per cent, the withdrawal will face retrospective political scrutiny, whatever the legal justification offered in September 2024.