Vote counting to start for 2026 Senedd election
After months of campaigning, vote counting will be underway from 9am to decide who will be the next Welsh Government
After months of campaigning, vote counting will be underway from 9am to decide who will be the next Welsh Government
In Wales, voters choose members of the Cardiff-based parliament known as the Senedd, which has been expanded at this election from 60 seats to 96.
The Senedd has the power to make laws, but on a narrower range of areas than its counterpart in Scotland, however the Senedd decides what happens for health, education, transport and the environment.
A new system of voting has been adopted this time, which has seen Wales divided into 16 super-constituencies
Each constituency will send six members to the Senedd, with seats allocated proportionally according to the number of votes cast.
Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems, Plaid Cymru, Reform and the Greens provided a full slate of candidates in all the 16 constituencies.
The enlargement of the Senedd from 60 to 96 seats, together with the introduction of new constituencies and a change in the system of voting, means it will not be possible to compare directly the state of the parties before the election with what happens on polling day.
At the previous election in 2021, when the Senedd comprised 60 seats, Labour won 30, one short of an overall majority, the Tories won 16, Plaid Cymru 13 and the Lib Dems one.
The first declarations from Wales are due around in the early afternoon.
According to More in Common, Reform and Plaid Cymru are forecast to win 34 seats each, leaving both short of the total 49 needed for a majority.
Labour are forecast to win 14 seats, the Conservatives nine and the Green Party five, while the Liberal Democrats are not expected to win any seats under this model.
The constituencies of Casnewydd Islwyn in south-east Wales, covering parts of Caerphilly and Newport, and Gwyr Abertawe in south-west Wales, which includes areas of Swansea, could be among the first to finish counting.
Fflint Wrecsam in North Wales is expected to be the last count to declare.