National Assembly for Wales election, 1999

National Assembly for Wales election, 1999

6 May 1999

All 60 seats to the National Assembly for Wales 31 seats needed for a majority   First party Second party   Leader Alun Michael Dafydd Wigley Party Labour Plaid Cymru Leader's seat Mid and West Wales Caernarfon Seats won 28 17 Constituency Votes 384,671 290,572 Constituency % 37.6% 28.4% List Votes 361,657 312,048 List % 35.4% 30.5%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Rod Richards Michael German Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader's seat North Wales South Wales East Seats won 9 6 Constituency Votes 162,133 137,857 Constituency % 15.8% 13.5% List Votes 168,206 128,008 List % 16.5% 12.5%

Map of Wales showing constituency results

Elected First Secretary Alun Michael Labour

The first National Assembly for Wales elections were held on 6 May 1999. The overall turnout of voters was 46.3%.^[1] 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, as of 2011, their highest number of seats in an Assembly 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.

For lists of constituencies and regions, see National Assembly for Wales constituencies and electoral regions.

Results map of the 1999 National Assembly election (regional list results).

Election results

• Overall turnout: 46%

 Welsh Assembly election, 1999

Parties		Additional member system										Total seats
		Constituency					Region
		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
	Socialist Alliance	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

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

National Assembly for Wales election, 1999: Mid and West Wales
Party		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

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

National Assembly for Wales election, 1999: North Wales
Party		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

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

National Assembly for Wales election, 1999: South Wales Central
Party		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

National Assembly for Wales election, 1999: South Wales East
Constituency		Elected member	Result
	Islwyn	Brian Hancock	Plaid Cymru gain
	Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney	Huw Lewis	Labour gain
	Monmouth	David Thomas Charles Davies	Conservative gain
	Blaeuau Gwent	Peter Law	Labour gain
	Newport East	John Griffiths	Labour gain
	Newport West	Dame Rosemary Janet Mair Butler	Labour gain
	Torfaen	Lynne Neagle	Labour gain
	Caerphilly	Ron Davies	Labour gain

National Assembly for Wales election, 1999: South Wales East
Party		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

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

National Assembly for Wales election, 1999: South Wales West
Party		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

See also

• National Assembly for Wales

References

1. Morgan, Bryn (12 May 1999). "Research Paper 99/51 - Welsh Assembly Elections: 6 May 1999" (PDF). House of Commons Library. Retrieved 15 April 2015.

External links

• Welsh National Assembly Elections 1999