Senedd

The Senedd (Welsh Parliament, formally Senedd Cymru) is the devolved legislature of Wales, established under the Government of Wales Act 1998 and first sitting in 1999. It was known as the National Assembly for Wales until 2020. The Senedd passes primary legislation on devolved matters — health, education, local government, housing, transport, parts of the environment — and scrutinises the Welsh Government.

For the 2026 election on 7 May, the Senedd operated for the first time under a fundamentally new electoral system: 96 seats across 16 constituencies, each returning 6 Members of the Senedd (MSs) via D'Hondt Closed-list proportional representation. This replaced the previous 60-seat mixed-member system that had applied since 1999. The Wales Governance Centre estimates approximately 12% of a constituency vote is needed to win a single seat, and a 49-seat majority is required to govern alone. The new system was designed to produce a more proportional legislature and increase the diversity of the chamber.

The 7 May 2026 result produced the first transfer of power in the Senedd's 27-year history: Plaid Cymru won 43 seats, Reform UK 34, Welsh Labour 9, Welsh Conservatives 4, Wales Greens 2. Plaid formed a minority government with the Greens' confidence and supply (45 seats combined). The new chamber's PR system means every future government must broker support; the era of majority or near-majority Welsh Labour government is over. On election night, Wales, England, and Scotland processed results under three different electoral systems simultaneously — closed-list PR, FPTP, and the Additional Member System respectively — making 7 May the most complex multi-system UK election count in modern history.