Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

Government of Wales Act 2006 The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c. 32) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the then-National Assembly for Wales (now the Senedd) and allows further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act creates a system ...

Wales Act 2014 The Wales Act 2014legislation.gov.uk
Wales Act 2014 (c. 29) is an Labour Party's share of the vote fell by over 7% and 29 Labour AMs were elected, one fewer than in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and two short of an overall majority.

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

became the Assembly's second largest party and the official opposition to the Welsh Government with 12 seats, one more than before. The 11

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

AMs were elected, three fewer than in 2011. Although they did not win a single constituency, the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

(UKIP) had 7 members elected through the regional lists vote. The Liberal Democrats had only one AM returned, down from five. The election was held on the same day as elections for the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

, the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

, the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

and Assembly of London and in numerous

local authorities in England Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

. The by-election for the Westminster seat of Ogmore was also held on the same day. This election and elections to the other devolved chambers were delayed by a year from 2015 to 2016 as a result of the

Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (c. 14) (FTPA) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which, for the first time, set in legislation a default fixed-term election, fixed election date for gener ...

.Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011
section 5 Elections to the Welsh Assembly have now also been permanently moved to a five-year cycle under the Wales Act 2014.

Electoral method

In

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

s for the National Assembly for Wales, each voter has two votes in a mixed member system. The first vote is for a candidate to become the Assembly Member for the voter's constituency, elected by the first past the post system. The second vote is for a regional

closed party list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

of candidates. Additional member seats are allocated from the lists by the

d'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

, with constituency results being taken into account in the allocation. The overall result is approximately proportional. Previously it was not allowed to stand in both a constituency and a regional list, but this rule was abolished by the

Wales Act 2014 The Wales Act 2014legislation.gov.uk
Wales Act 2014 (c. 29) is an dual mandate A dual mandate occurs when an official serves in or holds multiple public positions simultaneously. This practice is sometimes known as double jobbing in Britain, double-dipping in the United States, and ''cumul des mandats'' in France. Thus, if ...

s with the House of Commons: an Assembly Member is no longer allowed also to be an MP. British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens living in Wales aged 18 or over on election day were entitled to vote.

Retiring AMs

The following, previously incumbent AMs, did not run for re-election:

Constituency nominations

NB: AMs in office (i.e. incumbents) before the election are bolded. Winners are highlighted with party colours.

Regional lists

Mid and West Wales

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

South Wales Central

South Wales East

South Wales West

Opinion polls

Constituency vote ( FPTP)

Regional vote ( AMS)

Results

, - , style="background-color:white" colspan=15 , Welsh assembly election 2016

, - !rowspan=3 colspan=2 , Parties !colspan=10 ,

Additional member system The additional-member system (AMS) is a two-vote seat-linkage-based mixed electoral system used in the United Kingdom in which most legislator, representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and a fixed number of other "addition ...

!rowspan=2 colspan=5 , Total seats , - !colspan=5 , Constituency !colspan=5 , Region , - ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Total !! +/− !! % , -

Votes summary

New members

23 of the members elected to the Assembly in the election were not members of the previous Assembly. ;Constituency * Hannah Blythyn, Labour, Delyn *

Dawn Bowden Dawn Alison Louise Bowden (born 14 February 1960) is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist serving as Minister for Children and Social Care since 2024. She previously served as Chief Whip of the Welsh Government from 2021 to 2 ...

, Labour, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney * Rhianon Passmore, Labour, Islwyn * Jayne Bryant, Labour, Newport West * Vikki Howells, Labour,

Cynon Valley Cynon Valley () is a former coal mining valley in Wales. It lies between Rhondda and the Merthyr Valley and takes its name from the River Cynon. Aberdare is located in the north of the valley and Mountain Ash in the south. From 1974 to 19 ...

* Jeremy Miles, Labour,

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

* Hefin David, Labour,

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...

* Lee Waters, Labour,

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

*

Huw Irranca-Davies Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies (; born 22 January 1963) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Deputy First Minister of Wales since August 2024, and as Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs since March 2024 ...

, Labour, Ogmore *

Adam Price Adam Robert Price (born 23 September 1968) is a Welsh politician who served as Leader of Plaid Cymru from September 2018 to May 2023. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr since 2016, having previously been ...

,

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr * Siân Gwenllian,

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

, Arfon * Rebecca Evans, Labour, Gower ;Regional * Nathan Gill,