Cardiff West (Senedd constituency)

Not to be confused with Cardiff West (UK Parliament constituency).

Cardiff West (Welsh: Gorllewin Caerdydd) is a constituency of the Senedd. It elects one Member of the Senedd by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of eight constituencies in the South Wales Central electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to eight constituency members, to produce a degree of proportional representation for the region as a whole. The constituency has twice provided the First Minister of Wales, Rhodri Morgan from 2000-2009 and Mark Drakeford from 2018–2024.

Cardiff West Gorllewin Caerdydd
Senedd borough constituency for the Senedd
Cardiff West shown within the South Wales Central electoral region and the region shown within Wales
Current Senedd borough constituency
Created	1999
Party	Welsh Labour
Member of the Senedd	Mark Drakeford
Preserved county	South Glamorgan

Boundaries

Map of current boundaries

The constituency was created for the first election to the Assembly, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of the Cardiff West Westminster constituency. It is entirely within the preserved county of South Glamorgan.

The other seven constituencies of the region are Cardiff Central, Cardiff North, Cardiff South and Penarth, Cynon Valley, Pontypridd, Rhondda and Vale of Glamorgan.

Voting

In general elections for the Senedd, each voter has two votes. The first vote may be used to vote for a candidate to become the Member of the Senedd for the voter's constituency, elected by the first past the post system. The second vote may be used to vote for a regional closed party list of candidates. Additional member seats are allocated from the lists by the d'Hondt method, with constituency results being taken into account in the allocation.

Election		Member	Party	Portrait	Notes
	1999	Rhodri Morgan	Labour		Secretary for Economic Development and European Affairs (1999–2000) Leader of Welsh Labour & First Minister of Wales (2000–2009)
	2011	Mark Drakeford			Minister for Health and Social Services (2013–2016 & 2024) Minister for Finance (2016–2018 & 2024 - Present) Leader of Welsh Labour & First Minister of Wales (2018–2024)

Elections

Elections in the 2020s

2021 Senedd election: Cardiff West^[1]

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Mark Drakeford[a]	17,665	48.4	+12.8	13,421	37.0	+7.0
	Conservative	Sean Driscoll	6,454	17.7	+0.2	6,553	18.0	+1.6
	Plaid Cymru	Rhys ab Owen	5,897	16.1	-15.8	7,858	21.6	-9.1
	Propel	Neil McEvoy[b]	3,473	9.5	N/A	2,796	7.7	N/A
	Green	David Griffin	1,287	3.5	+0.3	2,479	6.8	+2.5
	Liberal Democrats	Heath John Marshall	803	2.2	-0.5	1,155	3.2	-0.6
	Abolish	Lee Canning	682	1.9	New	988	2.7	-0.9
	Reform UK	Nick Mullins	175	0.5	New	215	0.6	New
	Independent	Captain Beany	95	0.3	New
	UKIP					354	1.0	-7.5
	No More Lockdowns					157	0.4	New
	Gwlad					104	0.3	New
	TUSC					76	0.2	-0.1
	Communist					73	0.2	±0.0
	Independent	Alan Coulthard				40	0.2	New
	Workers Party					39	0.1	New
Majority			11,211	30.7	+27.0
Turnout			36,531	50.55[2]	+2.1
	Labour hold		Swing
Notes Incumbent member for this constituency Incumbent member on the party list, or for another constituency

Elections in the 2010s

Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Cardiff West

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional[3][4]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Mark Drakeford	11,381	35.6	-11.5	9,521	30.0	-7.5
	Plaid Cymru	Neil McEvoy	10,205	31.9	+11.9	9,741	30.7	+14.2
	Conservative	Sean Driscoll	5,617	17.5	-8.3	5,205	16.4	-5.9
	UKIP	Gareth Bennett	2,629	8.2	New	2,698	8.5	+4.4
	Green	Hannah Pudner	1,032	3.2	New	1,375	4.3	-4.3
	Liberal Democrats	Cadan ap Tomos	868	2.7	-4.3	1,222	3.8	-1.7
	Independent	Eliot Freedman	132	0.4	New
	Vapers in Power / Freedom to Choose	Lee Woolls	96	0.3	New	47	0.1	New
	Abolish					1,136	3.6	New
	Women's Equality					448	1.4	New
	Monster Raving Loony					113	0.3	-0.3
	TUSC					98	0.3	0.0
	Independent (Jonathan Bishop)[5]					75	0.2	New
	Communist					73	0.2	0.0
Majority			1,176	3.7	−17.6
Turnout			31,960	48.4	−4.6
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing	-11.7

Welsh Assembly Election 2011: Cardiff West

Party		Candidate	Constituency [6]			Regional[7]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour Co-op	Mark Drakeford	13,067	47.1	+8.5	10,413	37.5	+4.8
	Conservative	Craig Williams	7,166	25.8	+1.1	6,187	22.3	+0.1
	Plaid Cymru	Neil McEvoy	5,551	20.0	-1.3	4,581	16.5	-2.4
	Liberal Democrats	David Paul Morgan	1,942	7.0	-8.2	1,523	5.5	-6.2
	Green					2,379	8.6	+3.2
	UKIP					1,146	4.1	+2.0
	BNP					514	1.9	-1.8
	Socialist Labour					494	1.8	+1.1
	Welsh Christian					224	0.8	±0.0
	Monster Raving Loony					153	0.6	New
	TUSC					96	0.3	New
	Communist					56	0.2	-0.1
Majority			1,782	21.3	+7.6
Turnout			27,726	53.0	+11.4
	Labour Co-op hold		Swing

Regional ballots rejected at the count: 205^[8]

Elections in the 2000s

Welsh Assembly Election 2007: Cardiff West

Party		Candidate	Constituency [9]			Regional[10]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rhodri Morgan	10,390	38.6	-10.4	8,528	32.7	-8.4
	Conservative	Craig Williams	6,692	24.9	+7.1	5,782	22.2	+3.2
	Plaid Cymru	Neil McEvoy	5,719	21.3	+5.8	4,920	18.9	+4.3
	Liberal Democrats	Alison R. Goldsworthy	4,088	15.2	+1.6	3,056	11.7	-0.8
	Green					1,410	5.4	+0.6
	BNP					970	3.7	New
	UKIP					553	2.1	-2.5
	Welsh Christian					206	0.8	New
	Socialist Labour					183	0.7	-0.5
	Respect					178	0.7	New
	Socialist Alternative					92	0.3	New
	Communist					78	0.3	±0.0
	CPA					76	0.1	New
	Socialist Equality					27	0.1	New
Majority			3,698	13.7	−19.3
Turnout			26,889	41.6	−6.2
	Labour hold		Swing	-8.8

Welsh Assembly Election 2003: Cardiff West

Party		Candidate	Constituency			Regional[11]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rhodri Morgan	10,420	50.3	-11.3	8,568	41.2	-2.0
	Conservative	Heather Douglas	3,583	17.3	+2.5	3,947	19.0	+1.7
	Liberal Democrats	Jacqui Gasson	2,914	14.1	+5.2	2,604	12.5	+0.2
	Plaid Cymru	Eluned M. Bush	2,859	13.8	-0.9	3,041	14.6	-6.3
	UKIP	Frank Hughes	929	4.5	New	952	4.6	New
	Green					991	4.8	+1.7
	Socialist Labour					255	1.2	-0.2
	Vote No 2 Stop the War					151	0.7	New
	New Millennium Bean Party					146	0.7	New
	ProLife Alliance					41	0.2	New
	Cymru Annibynnol					56	0.3	New
	Communist					68	0.3	±0.0
Majority			6,837	33.0	−13.8
Turnout			20,705	34.2	−6.0
	Labour hold		Swing	-6.9

2003 Electorate: 60,523
Regional ballots rejected: 274

Elections in the 1990s

Welsh Assembly Election 1999: Cardiff West

Party		Candidate	Constituency[12]			Regional[13]
			Votes	%	±%	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Rhodri Morgan	14,305	61.6	N/A	9,997	43.2	N/A
	Conservative	Myr Boult	3,446	14.8	N/A	4,000	17.3	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Eluned Bush	3,402	14.7	N/A	4,838	20.9	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Dewi H Garrow-Smith	2,063	8.9	N/A	2,850	12.3	N/A
	Green					726	3.1	N/A
	Socialist Labour					335	1.4	N/A
	Independent (Alun Mathias)					153	0.7	N/A
	Socialist Alliance					92	0.4	N/A
	Natural Law					72	0.3	N/A
	Communist					69	0.3	N/A
	Independent (Paul Phillips)					14	0.1	N/A
Majority			10,859	46.8
Turnout			23,216	40.2
	Labour win (new seat)

1999 Electorate: 57,582