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Wales in the UK
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Wales has elections to four tiers of government: 22 unitary local authorities, the National Assembly for Wales, the United Kingdom Parliament and the European Parliament.
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Local Government
There are elections to 22 unitary authorities across Wales every four years, most recently on 1 May 2008. The electoral system currently used is First Past The Post, however there have been calls to follow Scotland into introducing the Single Transferable Vote for local elections. Key unitary authorities are Cardiff, Newport and Swansea councils which all lie on the southern coastal belt.
Local election results 1999
Local election results 1995
National Assembly for Wales
The National Assembly for Wales has existed since 1999, after the Welsh voters narrowly approved it in the 1997 devolution referendum. It is based in Cardiff Bay, and there are elections every 4 years for 60 Assembly Members (AMs). Voters have 2 votes with 40 AMs being elected by First Past The Post system in individual constituencies, and a further 20 AMs are elected by the Regional Top-Up system in which voters have an extra vote for a specific region that they reside in. The regions are South Wales East, South Wales Central, South Wales West, Mid and West Wales and North Wales. Each region elects four AMs based on the proportionality of the vote.
The next Assembly elections are due to be held in May 2011.
Latest election
Past elections and referendums
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UK Parliament
Wales has been eligible to send MPs to Westminster since the Laws in Wales Act 1535. Between then and 1885, most constituencies were divided into county and borough constituencies and were both able to send one MP to Westminster. As the industrial revolution took hold and calls for reform (particularly in towns such as Methyr Tydfil), Parliament eventually allowed the new towns to vote and this introduced the first Labour MPs. Indeed the first leader of the Labour Party in Parliament, Keir Hardie, was one of the two MPs for Merthyr Tydfil. The following table shows the composition of Wales's MPs sent to Westminster since 1885.
| Party
Year |
Conservative | Labour | Liberal Democrat/ Liberal |
Plaid Cymru | Independent | Liberal Unionist | Independent Labour | others |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1885 | 4 | - | 29 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1886 | 6 | - | 26 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| 1892 | 3 | - | 30 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1895 | 8 | - | 24 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| 1900 | 6 | 1 | 26 | - | - | 1 | - | 1 |
| 1906 | - | 1 | 28 | - | - | - | 1 | - |
| January 1910 | 2 | 5 | 27 | - | - | - | - | - |
| December 1910 | 3 | 6 | 26 | - | - | - | 1 | - |
| 1918 | 4 | 10 | 19 | - | - | - | - | 20 |
| 1922 | 6 | 18 | 2 | - | - | - | 1 | 9 |
| 1923 | 4 | 19 | 11 | - | - | - | - | 2 |
| 1924 | 9 | 16 | 11 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1929 | 1 | 25 | 10 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1931 | 6 | 15 | 5 | - | - | - | 1 | 9 |
| 1935 | 6 | 18 | 8 | - | - | - | - | 4 |
| 1945 | 3 | 25 | 7 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1950 | 3 | 27 | 5 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1951 | 5 | 27 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1955 | 5 | 27 | 3 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1959 | 6 | 27 | 2 | - | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1964 | 6 | 28 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1966 | 3 | 32 | 1 | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1970 | 7 | 27 | 1 | - | - | - | 1 | - |
| February 1974 | 8 | 24 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| October 1974 | 8 | 23 | 2 | 3 | - | - | - | - |
| 1979 | 11 | 22 | 1 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| 1983 | 14 | 20 | 2 | 2 | - | - | - | - |
| 1987 | 8 | 24 | 3 | 3 | - | - | - | 1 |
| 1992 | 6 | 27 | 1 | 4 | - | - | - | - |
| 1997 | - | 34 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | - |
| 2001 | - | 34 | 2 | 4 | - | - | - | 1 |
| 2005 | 3 | 29 | 4 | 3 | - | - | 1 | - |
European Parliament
Wales is a constituency in European Parliament elections.
See also
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