The first National Assembly for Wales elections were held on 6 May 1999. The overall turnout of voters was 46.3%. Although

Welsh Labour Welsh Labour ( cy, Llafur Cymru) is the branch of the United Kingdom Labour Party in Wales and the largest party in modern Welsh politics. Welsh Labour and its forebears won a plurality of the Welsh vote at every UK general election since 192 ...

were the biggest party, they did not gain enough seats to form a

majority government A majority government is a government by one or more governing parties that hold an absolute majority of seats in a legislature. This is as opposed to a minority government, where the largest party in a legislature only has a plurality of seats ...

and instead entered into coalition with the Liberal Democrats. The election was marked by the historically high level of support for

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left to left-wing, Welsh nationalist political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from the United Kingdom. Plaid wa ...

, who won their highest share of the vote in any Wales-wide election and, as of 2021, 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 Rhondda , or the Rhondda Valley ( cy, Cwm Rhondda ), is a former coal mining, coalmining area in South Wales, historically in the county of Glamorgan. It takes its name from the River Rhondda, and embraces two valleys – the larger Rhondda Fa ...

and

Islwyn The Borough of Islwyn was one of five local government districts of Gwent from 1974 to 1996. History The borough was formed in 1974 as a local government district of Gwent. It covered the whole area of three former districts and part of a fou ...

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 The Senedd constituencies and electoral regions () are the electoral districts used to elect Members of the Senedd (MS; cy, Aelodau'r Senedd or AS) to the Senedd (Welsh Parliament; ), and have been used in some form since the first election o ...

''.

Election results

*Overall turnout: 46.3% , - , style="background-color:white" colspan=15 , Welsh assembly election 1999

, - !rowspan=3 colspan=2 , Parties !colspan=10 , Additional member system !rowspan=2 colspan=5 , Total seats , - !colspan=5 , Constituency !colspan=5 , Region , - ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Total !! +/− !! % , - , - , , , Total , , 1,023,225 , , , , , , 40 , , , , 1,019,987 , , , , , , 20 , , , , 60 , , , ,

Votes summary

Constituency and Regional Summary

Mid and West Wales

, - ! colspan=2 style="width: 200px", Constituency ! style="width: 150px", Elected member ! style="width: 300px", Result , - ! colspan="2" style="width: 150px", Party ! Elected candidates ! style="width: 40px", Seats ! style="width: 40px", +/− ! style="width: 50px", Votes ! style="width: 40px", % ! style="width: 40px", +/−% , -

North Wales North Wales ( cy, Gogledd Cymru) is a region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders Mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdonia N ...

South Wales Central

South Wales East

South Wales West

Opinion polls

Regional Vote

Source:

Constituency Vote

Source:

References

External links

Welsh National Assembly Elections 1999

Manifestos

{{Welsh elections

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school s ...

National Assembly election 1990s elections in Wales National Assembly for Wales election