1999 National Assembly for Wales election

1999 National Assembly for Wales election
All 60 seats to the National Assembly for Wales; 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	46.3%
	First Secretary after election ; Alun Michael; Labour

The 1999 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 6 May 1999 to elect 60 members to the Senedd, at the time called the National Assembly for Wales (Welsh Parliament; Welsh: Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru). It was the first devolved general election held in Wales after the successful 1997 Welsh devolution referendum. The election was held alongside the Scottish Parliament election (also the first of its kind) and English local elections.

Although Welsh Labour were the biggest party, they did not gain enough seats to form a majority government and instead entered into coalition with the Liberal Democrats. The election was marked by the historically high level of support for Plaid Cymru, who won their highest share of the vote in any Wales-wide election and remains their highest number of seats in a Senedd election to date. The party won considerable support in traditionally safe Labour areas such as the South Wales Valleys, winning Rhondda and Islwyn and narrowly failing to win a number of other seats.

The overall turnout of voters was 46.3%.^[1] This would remain the highest ever turnout for a devolved election in Wales until the 2021 Senedd election, which saw 46.6 of voters cast their ballot.^[2]

Election results

Overall turnout: 46.3%

1999 Welsh Assembly election
	Additional member system										Total seats

	Constituency					Region					Total seats
	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Total	+/−	%
Labour	384,671	37.6	N/A	27	N/A	361,657	35.4	N/A	1	N/A	28	N/A	46.7
Plaid Cymru	290,572	28.4	N/A	9	N/A	312,048	30.5	N/A	8	N/A	17	N/A	28.3
Conservative	162,133	15.8	N/A	1	N/A	168,206	16.5	N/A	8	N/A	9	N/A	15.0
Liberal Democrats	137,857	13.5	N/A	3	N/A	128,008	12.5	N/A	3	N/A	6	N/A	10.0
Green	1,002	0.1	N/A	0	N/A	25,858	2.5	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0
Socialist Labour	-	-	-	-	-	10,720	1.0	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0
Natural Law	-	-	-	-	-	3,861	0.4	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0
United Socialist	3,967	0.4	N/A	0	N/A	3,590	0.4	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0
Communist	609	0.1	N/A	0	N/A	1,366	0.1	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0
Independent	30,554	3.0	N/A	0	N/A	-	-	-	-	-	0	N/A	0
Independent Labour	4,134	0.4	N/A	0	N/A	-	-	-	-	-	0	N/A	0
Others	7,736	0.8	N/A	0	N/A	4,673	0.5	N/A	0	N/A	0	N/A	0
Total	1,023,225			40		1,019,987			20		60

Votes summary

Popular vote

Labour			35.40%
Plaid Cymru			30.50%
Conservative			16.50%
Liberal Democrats			12.50%
Green			2.50%
Socialist Labour			1.00%
Others			1.60%

Parliament seats

Labour			46.67%
Plaid Cymru			28.33%
Conservative			15.00%
Liberal Democrats			10.00%

Constituency and regional summary

Mid and West Wales

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: Mid and West Wales
	Elected member	Result
Carmarthen East and Dinefwr	Rhodri Glyn Thomas	Plaid Cymru win
Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire	Christine Gwyther	Labour win
Ceredigion	Elin Jones	Plaid Cymru win
Llanelli	Helen Mary Jones	Plaid Cymru win
Meirionnydd Nant Conwy	Dafydd Elis-Thomas	Plaid Cymru win
Montgomeryshire	Mick Bates	Liberal Democrats win
Preseli Pembrokeshire	Richard Edwards	Labour win
Brecon and Radnorshire	Kirsty Williams	Liberal Democrats win

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: Mid and West Wales
	Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
Plaid Cymru	Cynog Dafis	1	N/A	84,554	38.55%	N/A
Labour	Alun Michael	1	N/A	53,842	24.55%	N/A
Conservative	Nick Bourne Edward Glyn Davies	2	N/A	36,622	16.70%	N/A
Liberal Democrats		0	N/A	31,683	14.44%	N/A
Green		0	N/A	7,718	3.52%	N/A
Socialist Labour		0	N/A	3,019	1.38%	N/A
Independent		0	N/A	1,214	0.55%	N/A
Natural Law		0	N/A	705	0.32%	N/A

North Wales

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: North Wales
	Elected member	Result
Alyn and Deeside	Tom Middlehurst	Labour win
Caernarfon	Dafydd Wigley	Plaid Cymru win
Clwyd South	Karen Sinclair	Labour win
Clwyd West	Alun Pugh	Labour win
Conwy	Gareth Jones	Plaid Cymru win
Delyn	Alison Halford	Labour win
Vale of Clwyd	Margaret Ann Jones	Labour win
Wrexham	John Marek	Labour win
Ynys Môn	Ieuan Wyn Jones	Plaid Cymru win

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: North Wales
	Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
Labour		0	N/A	73,673	34.19%	N/A
Plaid Cymru	Janet Ryder	1	N/A	69,518	32.26%	N/A
Conservative	Rod Richards Peter Rogers	2	N/A	41,700	19.35%	N/A
Liberal Democrats	Christine Humphreys	1	N/A	22,130	10.27%	N/A
Green		0	N/A	4,667	2.17%	N/A
Rhuddlan Debt Protest Campaign		0	N/A	1,353	0.63%	N/A
Natural Law		0	N/A	917	0.43%	N/A
Socialist Alliance		0	N/A	828	0.38%	N/A
Communist		0	N/A	714	0.33%	N/A

South Wales Central

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: South Wales Central
	Elected member	Result
Cardiff South and Penarth	Lorraine Barrett	Labour win
Cardiff West	Rhodri Morgan	Labour win
Cynon Valley	Christine Chapman	Labour win
Pontypridd	Jane Davidson	Labour win
Rhondda	Geraint Rhys Davies	Plaid Cymru win
Vale of Glamorgan	Jane Hutt	Labour win
Cardiff Central	Jennifer Elizabeth Randerson	Liberal Democrats win
Cardiff North	Sue Essex	Labour win

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: South Wales Central
	Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
Labour		0	N/A	79,564	36.92%	N/A
Plaid Cymru	Pauline Jarman Owen John Thomas	2	N/A	58,080	26.95%	N/A
Conservative	Jonathan Morgan David Melding	2	N/A	34,944	16.22%	N/A
Liberal Democrats		0	N/A	30,911	14.35%	N/A
Green		0	N/A	5,336	2.48%	N/A
Socialist Labour		0	N/A	2,822	1.31%	N/A
Independent		0	N/A	1,524	0.71%	N/A
Natural Law		0	N/A	665	0.31%	N/A
Communist		0	N/A	652	0.30%	N/A
Socialist Alliance		0	N/A	602	0.28%	N/A
Independent		0	N/A	378	0.18%	N/A

South Wales East

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: South Wales East
	Elected member	Result
Islwyn	Brian Hancock	Plaid Cymru win
Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney	Huw Lewis	Labour win
Monmouth	David Davies	Conservative win
Blaenau Gwent	Peter Law	Labour win
Newport East	John Griffiths	Labour win
Newport West	Rosemary Butler	Labour win
Torfaen	Lynne Neagle	Labour win
Caerphilly	Ron Davies	Labour win

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: South Wales East
	Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
Labour		0	N/A	83,953	41.82%	N/A
Plaid Cymru	Jocelyn Davies Professor Philip James Stradling Williams	2	N/A	49,139	24.48%	N/A
Conservative	William Graham	1	N/A	33,947	16.91%	N/A
Liberal Democrats	Michael James German	1	N/A	24,757	12.33%	N/A
Socialist Labour		0	N/A	4,879	2.43%	N/A
Green		0	N/A	4,055	2.02%	N/A

South Wales West

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: South Wales West
	Elected member	Result
Aberavon	Brian Gibbons	Labour win
Gower	Edwina Hart	Labour win
Neath	Gwenda Thomas	Labour win
Ogmore	Janice Gregory	Labour win
Swansea East	Val Feld	Labour win
Swansea West	Andrew Davies	Labour win
Bridgend	Carwyn Jones	Labour win

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: South Wales West
	Elected candidates	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−%
Labour		0	N/A	70,625	42.25%	N/A
Plaid Cymru	Janet Marion Davies Dr David Rees Lloyd	2	N/A	50,757	30.37%	N/A
Conservative	Alun Cairns	1	N/A	20,993	12.56%	N/A
Liberal Democrats	Peter Black	1	N/A	18.527	11.09%	N/A
Green		0	N/A	4,082	2.44%	N/A
Socialist Alliance		0	N/A	1,257	0.75%	N/A
Natural Law		0	N/A	676	0.40%	N/A
People's Representative Party		0	N/A	204	0.12%	N/A

Opinion polls

References

^ Morgan, Bryn (12 May 1999). "Research Paper 99/51 – Welsh Assembly Elections: 6 May 1999". House of Commons Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
^ Clark, D. (9 July 2021). "Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru) turnout rate 2021". Statista. Retrieved 4 March 2023.

External links

1999 Welsh National Assembly Election at BBC News

Manifestos

[1] Morgan, Bryn (12 May 1999). "Research Paper 99/51 – Welsh Assembly Elections: 6 May 1999". House of Commons Library. Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 November 2013. Retrieved 15 April 2015.

[2] Clark, D. (9 July 2021). "Welsh Parliament (Senedd Cymru) turnout rate 2021". Statista. Retrieved 4 March 2023.

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