Senedd The Senedd ( ; ), officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and () in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, Its role is to scrutinise the Welsh Government and legislate on devolve ...

Government of Wales Act 2006 The Government of Wales Act 2006 (c. 32) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that reformed the then-National Assembly for Wales (now the Senedd) and allows further powers to be granted to it more easily. The Act creates a system ...

Wales Act 2014 The Wales Act 2014legislation.gov.uk
Wales Act 2014 (c. 29) is an Labour Party's share of the vote fell by over 7% and 29 Labour AMs were elected, one fewer than in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

and two short of an overall majority.

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

became the Assembly's second largest party and the official opposition to the Welsh Government with 12 seats, one more than before. The 11

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

AMs were elected, three fewer than in 2011. Although they did not win a single constituency, the

UK Independence Party The UK Independence Party (UKIP, ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of parliament (both through defect ...

(UKIP) had 7 members elected through the regional lists vote. The Liberal Democrats had only one AM returned, down from five. The election was held on the same day as elections for the

Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament ( ; ) is the Devolution in the United Kingdom, devolved, unicameral legislature of Scotland. It is located in the Holyrood, Edinburgh, Holyrood area of Edinburgh, and is frequently referred to by the metonym 'Holyrood'. ...

, the

Northern Ireland Assembly The Northern Ireland Assembly (; ), often referred to by the metonym ''Stormont'', is the devolved unicameral legislature of Northern Ireland. It has power to legislate in a wide range of areas that are not explicitly reserved to the Parliam ...

, the

Mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

and Assembly of London and in numerous

local authorities in England Local may refer to: Geography and transportation * Local (train), a train serving local traffic demand * Local, Missouri, a community in the United States Arts, entertainment, and media * ''Local'' (comics), a limited series comic book by Bria ...

. The by-election for the Westminster seat of Ogmore was also held on the same day. This election and elections to the other devolved chambers were delayed by a year from 2015 to 2016 as a result of the

Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 The Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 (c. 14) (FTPA) was an Act of Parliament (United Kingdom), act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which, for the first time, set in legislation a default fixed-term election, fixed election date for gener ...

.Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011
section 5 Elections to the Welsh Assembly have now also been permanently moved to a five-year cycle under the Wales Act 2014.

Electoral method

In

general election A general election is an electoral process to choose most or all members of a governing body at the same time. They are distinct from By-election, by-elections, which fill individual seats that have become vacant between general elections. Gener ...

s for the National Assembly for Wales, each voter has two votes in a mixed member system. The first vote is for a candidate to become the Assembly Member for the voter's constituency, elected by the first past the post system. The second vote is for a regional

closed party list Closed list describes the variant of party-list systems where voters can effectively vote for only political parties as a whole; thus they have no influence on the party-supplied order in which party candidates are elected. If voters had some in ...

of candidates. Additional member seats are allocated from the lists by the

d'Hondt method The D'Hondt method, also called the Jefferson method or the greatest divisors method, is an apportionment method for allocating seats in parliaments among federal states, or in proportional representation among political parties. It belongs to ...

, with constituency results being taken into account in the allocation. The overall result is approximately proportional. Previously it was not allowed to stand in both a constituency and a regional list, but this rule was abolished by the

Wales Act 2014 The Wales Act 2014legislation.gov.uk
Wales Act 2014 (c. 29) is an dual mandate A dual mandate occurs when an official serves in or holds multiple public positions simultaneously. This practice is sometimes known as double jobbing in Britain, double-dipping in the United States, and ''cumul des mandats'' in France. Thus, if ...

s with the House of Commons: an Assembly Member is no longer allowed also to be an MP. British, Irish, Commonwealth and European Union citizens living in Wales aged 18 or over on election day were entitled to vote.

Retiring AMs

The following, previously incumbent AMs, did not run for re-election:

Constituency nominations

NB: AMs in office (i.e. incumbents) before the election are bolded. Winners are highlighted with party colours.

Regional lists

Mid and West Wales Mid and West Wales or Mid and South West Wales is an ambiguous region of Wales that is sometimes used, consisting broadly of the preserved counties of Dyfed and Powys, sometimes Swansea and sometimes parts of Gwynedd. It is also used sometimes ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, 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 Snowdon ...

South Wales Central South Wales Central () is an electoral region of the Senedd, consisting of eight constituencies. The region elects 12 members, eight directly elected constituency members and four additional members. The electoral region was first used in 1999, ...

South Wales East

South Wales West

Opinion polls

Constituency vote (
FPTP First-past-the-post (FPTP)—also called choose-one, first-preference plurality (FPP), or simply plurality—is a single-winner voting rule. Voters mark one candidate as their favorite, or first-preference, and the candidate with more first- ...
)

Regional vote (
AMS AMS or Ams may refer to: Organizations Companies * Alenia Marconi Systems * American Management Systems * AMS (Advanced Music Systems) * ams AG, semiconductor manufacturer * AMS Pictures * Auxiliary Medical Services Educational institutions ...
)

Results

, - , style="background-color:white" colspan=15 , Welsh assembly election 2016

, - !rowspan=3 colspan=2 , Parties !colspan=10 ,

Additional member system The additional-member system (AMS) is a two-vote seat-linkage-based mixed electoral system used in the United Kingdom in which most legislator, representatives are elected in single-member districts (SMDs), and a fixed number of other "addition ...

!rowspan=2 colspan=5 , Total seats , - !colspan=5 , Constituency !colspan=5 , Region , - ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Votes !! % !! +/− !! Seats !! +/− ! Total !! +/− !! % , -

Votes summary

New members

23 of the members elected to the Assembly in the election were not members of the previous Assembly. ;Constituency *

Hannah Blythyn Hannah Blythyn (born 17 April 1979) is a Welsh politician who served as the Minister for Social Partnership in the Welsh Government from 2021 to 2024. She was previously the Environment Minister from 2017 to 2018 and the Deputy Minister for H ...

, Labour, Delyn *

Dawn Bowden Dawn Alison Louise Bowden (born 14 February 1960) is a British Labour Party politician and trade unionist serving as Minister for Children and Social Care since 2024. She previously served as Chief Whip of the Welsh Government from 2021 to 2 ...

, Labour, Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney *

Rhianon Passmore Rhianon Passmore is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician. Since May 2016, she has been the Member of the Senedd for Islwyn. Political career Passmore was elected to represent Risca east on Caerphilly County Borough Council in 2004, defeat ...

, Labour,

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 ...

*

Jayne Bryant Jayne Bryant is a Welsh Labour Party politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Housing and Local Government since July 2024. Since May 2016 she has represented Newport West in the Senedd. Background Bryant was born in the Royal Gwent Ho ...

, Labour, Newport West *

Vikki Howells Vikki Howells is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician serving as Minister for Further and Higher Education since September 2024. Since May 2016, she has also been the Member of the Senedd for Cynon Valley. Howells is a former teacher. Ba ...

, Labour,

Cynon Valley Cynon Valley () is a former coal mining valley in Wales. It lies between Rhondda and the Merthyr Valley and takes its name from the River Cynon. Aberdare is located in the north of the valley and Mountain Ash in the south. From 1974 to 19 ...

*

Jeremy Miles Jeremy Miles (born August 1971) is a Welsh Labour Co-op politician serving as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care since September 2024. He previously served in the Welsh Government as Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Energy and Welsh L ...

, Labour,

Neath Neath (; ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community situated in the Neath Port Talbot, Neath Port Talbot County Borough, Wales. The town had a population of 50,658 in 2011. The community of the parish of Neath had a population of 19,2 ...

*

Hefin David Hefin Wyn David (born 1977) is a Welsh Labour politician and the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Caerphilly, where he currently lives. Despite the common surname, he is no relation to Wayne David, the former Member of Parliament (MP) for the sam ...

, Labour,

Caerphilly Caerphilly (, ; , ) is a town and community (Wales), community in Wales. It is situated at the southern end of the Rhymney Valley and separated from the Cardiff suburbs of Lisvane and Rhiwbina by Caerphilly Mountain. It is north of Cardiff an ...

*

Lee Waters Lee Waters (born 12 February 1976) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who served as Deputy Minister for Climate Change from 2021 to 2024. He has served as the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Llanelli since 2016. Early life Waters gre ...

, Labour,

Llanelli ; ) is a market town and community (Wales), community in Carmarthenshire and the Preserved counties of Wales, preserved county of Dyfed, Wales. It is on the estuary of the River Loughor and is the largest town in the Principal areas of Wales, ...

*

Huw Irranca-Davies Ifor Huw Irranca-Davies (; born 22 January 1963) is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician who has served as Deputy First Minister of Wales since August 2024, and as Cabinet Secretary for Climate Change and Rural Affairs since March 2024 ...

, Labour, Ogmore *

Adam Price Adam Robert Price (born 23 September 1968) is a Welsh politician who served as Leader of Plaid Cymru from September 2018 to May 2023. He has been the Member of the Senedd (MS) for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr since 2016, having previously been ...

,

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

, Carmarthen East and Dinefwr *

Siân Gwenllian Siân Gwenllian is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician who has represented the constituency of Arfon in the Senedd since 2016. She currently holds the seat with a majority of 8,642 votes. Early life and career Gwenllian was educated at Friars S ...

,

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

, Arfon * Rebecca Evans, Labour,

Gower The Gower Peninsula (), or simply Gower (), is a peninsula in the south-west of Wales. It is the most westerly part of the historic county of Glamorgan, and is now within the City and County of Swansea. It projects towards the Bristol Channel ...

;Regional *

Nathan Gill Nathan Lee Gill (born 6 July 1973) is a British former politician who was the Leader of Reform UK Wales from March to May 2021, when he resigned from the party. He previously served as Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Wales from 201 ...

,