1999 National Assembly for Wales election

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.

1999 National Assembly for Wales election

6 May 1999 2003 →
All 60 seats to the National Assembly for Wales 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	46.3%
First party Second party   Leader Alun Michael Dafydd Wigley Party Labour Plaid Cymru Leader's seat Mid & West Wales Caernarfon Seats won 28 17 FPTP Vote 384,671 290,572 Percentage 37.6% 28.4% List Vote 361,657 312,048 Percentage 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 FPTP Vote 162,133 137,857 Percentage 15.8% 13.5% List Vote 168,206 128,008 Percentage 16.5% 12.5%
First Secretary after election Alun Michael Labour

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]

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

Election results

• Overall turnout: 46.3%

1999 Welsh Assembly election

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
	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

Constituency		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

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

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: North Wales

Constituency		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

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

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: South Wales Central

Constituency		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

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

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: South Wales East

Constituency		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

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

1999 National Assembly for Wales election: South Wales West

Constituency		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

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

Opinion polls

Main article: Opinion polling for the 1999 National Assembly for Wales election

See also

• Senedd (formerly National Assembly for Wales)
• Senedd constituencies and electoral regions

References

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.

External links

• 1999 Welsh National Assembly Election at BBC News

Manifestos

• Welsh Labour
• Welsh Liberal Democrats
• Plaid Cymru