2007 National Assembly for Wales election

← 2003 3 May 2007 2011 →
All 60 seats to the National Assembly for Wales 31 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	43.7% 5.5%
First party Second party   Leader Rhodri Morgan Ieuan Wyn Jones Party Labour Plaid Cymru Leader's seat Cardiff West Ynys Môn Last election 30 seats 12 seats Seats won 26 15 Seat change 4 3 Constituency Vote 314,925 219,121 % and swing 32.2% 7.8% 22.4% 1.2% Regional Vote 288,954 204,757 % and swing 29.6% 7.0% 21.0% 1.3%   Third party Fourth party   Leader Nick Bourne Michael German Party Conservative Liberal Democrats Leader's seat Mid and West Wales South Wales East Last election 11 seats 6 seats Seats won 12 6 Seat change 1 Constituency Vote 218,730 144,450 % and swing 22.4% 2.5% 14.8% 0.7% Regional Vote 209,153 114,500 % and swing 21.4% 2.3% 11.7% 1.0%
First Minister before election Rhodri Morgan Labour First Minister after election Rhodri Morgan Labour

The 2007 National Assembly for Wales election was held on Thursday 3 May 2007 to elect members to the National Assembly for Wales. It was the third general election. On the same day local elections in England and Scotland, as well as the Scottish Parliament election took place. This election was preceded by the previous Assembly election in 2003.

The election saw Plaid Cymru make gains at the expense of Labour, although Labour remain the largest party in the Assembly, as they have since it began. Plaid stated they would make a referendum on devolving further powers to the National Assembly a condition for a coalition.^[1] Wales reported that senior civil servants before the election were preparing for three possible coalition administrations: Labour/Liberal Democrat, Labour/Plaid Cymru or Plaid Cymru/Liberal Democrat/Conservative.

Discussions between Plaid Cymru, the Conservatives and the Liberal Democrats to form a "Rainbow" Coalition broke down, and a coalition was eventually agreed between Labour and Plaid Cymru.

Major parties

The Welsh Labour Party before the election had 29 seats, Plaid Cymru had 12, the Welsh Conservative Party 11, the Welsh Liberal Democrats 6, Forward Wales 1, with 1 independent, Trish Law. Law had won her seat at a 2006 by-election. The one Forward Wales Assembly Member was elected as an independent before forming the party. The standings were otherwise identical to the 2003 results.

Electoral method

In general elections for the National Assembly for Wales, each voter has two votes in a mixed member system. The first vote may be used to vote for a candidate to become the Assembly Member 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. The overall result is approximately proportional.

Pre-election forecasts

Predictions for the seat distribution were made by a number of polls before the election:

Electoral results

This article is part of a series within the Politics of the United Kingdom on the
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v t e

• Overall turnout – 43.7%

Welsh Assembly election, 2007

Parties		Additional member system										Total seats
		Constituency					Region
		Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Votes	%	+/−	Seats	+/−	Total	+/−	%
	Labour	314,925	32.2	−7.8	24	−6	288,954	29.6	−7.0	2	+2	26	−4	43.3
	Plaid Cymru	219,121	22.4	+1.2	7	+2	204,757	21.0	+1.3	8	+1	15	+3	25.0
	Conservative	218,730	22.4	+2.5	5	+4	209,153	21.5	+2.3	7	−3	12	+1	20.0
	Liberal Democrats	144,450	14.8	+0.7	3	0	114,500	11.7	−1.0	3	0	6	0	10.0
	BNP	—	—	—	—	—	42,197	4.3	+3.9	0	0	0	0	—
	UKIP	18,047	1.8	−0.5	0	0	38,490	3.9	+0.4	0	0	0	0	—
	Green	—	—	—	—	—	33,803	3.5	0.0	0	0	0	0	—
	Socialist Labour	—	—	—	—	—	12,209	1.3	+0.1	0	0	0	0	—
	Independent	29,699	3.0	+2.4	1	0	9,350	1.0	N/A	0	0	1	0	1.7
	Welsh Christian	—	—	—	—	—	8,963	0.9	N/A	0	0	0	0	—
	Communist	—	—	—	—	—	3,708	0.4	+0.3	0	0	0	0	—
	CPA	—	—	—	—	—	2,694	0.3	N/A	0	0	0	0	—
	Socialist Alternative	—	—	—	—	—	1,865	0.2	N/A	0	0	0	0	—
	Respect	—	—	—	—	—	1,792	0.2	N/A	0	0	0	0	—
	English Democrat	1,867	0.2	N/A	0	0	1,655	0.2	N/A	0	0	0	0	—
	Veritas	—	—	—	—	—	505	0.1	N/A	0	0	0	0	—
	Socialist Equality	—	—	—	—	—	292	0.0	N/A	0	0	0	0	—
	Blaenau Gwent PV	3,348	0.3	N/A	0	0	—	—	—	—	—	0	0	—
	Total	978,132			40		974,884			20		60

(source:^[5])

Votes summary

Constituency nominations

NB: candidates in BOLD text were incumbent assembly members before the election

• Trish Law has defended the seat she won in the 2006 by-election. Then and now, she is standing as an independent, but is affiliated with the Blaenau Gwent People's Voice Group.
• Ron Davies and John Marek stood as independents, but are members of and continue to play an active role in Forward Wales. Marek is the party's leader, while Davies is their Policy Director.^[8] Neither was elected on 3 May.

Regional lists

^[9]

Mid and West Wales

• RESULT: Labour – 2 seats; Plaid Cymru – 1 seat; Conservative – 1 seat

North Wales

• RESULT: Conservative – 2 seats; Plaid Cymru – 1 seat; LibDem – 1 seat

South Wales Central

• RESULT: Conservative – 2 seats; Plaid Cymru – 2 seats

South Wales East

• RESULT: Plaid Cymru – 2 seats; Conservative – 1 seat; LibDem – 1 seat
• Mohammad Asghar was the first ethnic minority member of the Assembly for Plaid Cymru^[10] but on 8 December 2009, he switched to the Conservatives^[11]
• Veronica German succeeded Mike German as the Liberal Democrat AM following his appointment to the House of Lords.

South Wales West

In South Wales West, there were also party lists from the Communist Party of Britain, Christian Peoples Alliance, Respect Party, Socialist Labour Party, Welsh Christian Party in addition to two independents, Keith James and John Hudson Jenkins.

New members

Thirteen of the members elected to the Assembly in the election were not members of the previous Assembly, including Gareth Jones, who sat in the Assembly from 1999 to 2003 and lost his seat in that year's election.

• Mohammad Asghar, Plaid Cymru, South Wales East
• Angela Burns, Welsh Conservative, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
• Alun Davies, Welsh Labour, Mid and West Wales
• Andrew R. T. Davies, Welsh Conservative, South Wales Central
• Paul Davies, Welsh Conservative, Preseli Pembrokeshire
• Nerys Evans, Plaid Cymru, Mid and West Wales
• Chris Franks, Plaid Cymru, South Wales Central
• Lesley Griffiths, Welsh Labour, Wrexham
• Bethan Jenkins, Plaid Cymru, South Wales West
• Gareth Jones, Plaid Cymru, Aberconwy (previously represented Conwy, 1999–2003)
• Darren Millar, Welsh Conservative, Clwyd West
• Nick Ramsay, Welsh Conservative, Monmouth
• Joyce Watson, Welsh Labour, Mid and West Wales

Defeated members

Nine sitting AMs were defeated at the polls.

• Glyn Davies, Welsh Conservative, Mid and West Wales
• Tamsin Dunwoody, Welsh Labour, Preseli Pembrokeshire
• Lisa Francis, Welsh Conservative, Mid and West Wales
• Christine Gwyther, Welsh Labour, Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire
• Denise Idris Jones, Welsh Labour, Conwy (defeated in Aberconwy)
• Laura Anne Jones, Welsh Conservative, South Wales East
• John Marek, Independent, Wrexham
• Alun Pugh, Welsh Labour, Clwyd West
• Catherine Thomas, Welsh Labour, Llanelli

Retiring members

Four sitting AMs did not offer themselves for re-election.

• David Davies, Welsh Conservative, Monmouth
• Janet Davies, Plaid Cymru, South Wales West
• Sue Essex, Welsh Labour, Cardiff North
• Owen John Thomas, Plaid Cymru, South Wales Central

National election, 2003

Due to boundary changes, the composition of the outgoing Assembly did not reflect the Assembly that was elected in May 2003 (see National Assembly for Wales constituencies and electoral regions). The main changes were in northwestern Wales, where the constituencies of Conwy, Caernarfon, and Meirionydd nant Conwy were replaced by Aberconwy, Arfon and Dwyfor Meirionnydd.