Senedd election candidates confirmed

675 candidates will be competing for your votes at the Senedd election on 7 May as the official lists are confirmed.

The nomination period for Senedd election candidates closed at 16:00 on 9 April, and information on all candidates is now available at vote.wales so that you can see who you can vote for at the election.

Wales is divided into 16 constituencies at the election on 7 May, and each constituency will elect 6 Members of the Senedd using a closed-list proportional voting system. You will get one ballot paper and can vote for either a political party or an individual candidate. 

This voting system means that the number of seats a party wins in a constituency will roughly match its share of the vote. For example, if a party gets 50% of the vote, they’ll win 3 out of the 6 seats available.

In each constituency, political parties were allowed to name up to 8 candidates to stand in the election. Individual candidates can also stand as independents.

In total, 675 candidates have put themselves forward for election for the 96 seats available in the next Senedd.

These candidates represent 16 political parties, while 30 people are standing as independents.

You can find out exactly who is standing for election in your constituency by using the postcode search on vote.wales. The postcode search will also tell you where your polling station is, what accessibility features your polling station has, and which constituency you’ll be voting in.

If you want to see who’s standing elsewhere in Wales you can use the “Browse by constituency” page on vote.wales.

Vote.wales is a brand new website at this year’s Senedd election which exists to give people confidence when they go to vote. It is managed by the Electoral Management Board for Wales, part of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru.

From Thursday, 16 April, candidates’ leaflets will also be published on vote.wales so that you can see not only who is standing, but what they’re standing for.

Vote.wales also has information about how to vote at this election, as well as who can vote, and what the Senedd is responsible for.

Commenting on the publication of candidate information, chief executive of the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru, Shereen Williams MBE OStJ said:

“We created vote.wales to give people all the info they need before the Senedd election on 7 May.

“Now that candidates have been confirmed across Wales, people can find out exactly who they can vote for with a simple postcode search.

“We’re grateful to all the Returning Officers and elections staff across Wales who are working so hard to deliver this election. It’s thanks to their hard work that people can now go to vote.wales to see who is standing in their constituency.”

“If you have any questions about this election, vote.wales is the place to go. Voting confidence starts here.”

At the election on 7 May, voters will vote once for their preferred party or independent candidate. To vote in the election, you need to be registered by 20 April. You do not need to bring photo ID with you to vote at Senedd elections.