Labour is set to stay in power in Wales after matching its best-ever Senedd election result, with exactly half of the 60 seats in the Welsh Parliament.

 

Polling at the start of the campaign suggested Labour was facing its worst-ever result and was at risk of winning as few as 22 seats, a loss of seven from 2016, though later polls suggested a stronger showing.

The party fought off challenges from the Conservatives to key “red wall” seats, only losing the Vale of Clwyd to the Tories.

With 52 of the 60 seats declared, Labour is on 30 with the Conservatives on 12, Plaid Cymru nine and the Liberal Democrats one.

Of the 60 members of the Senedd (MSs) being elected, 40 will serve constituencies and 20 will be elected to represent larger regional areas of North Wales, Mid and West Wales, South Wales West, South Wales Central and South Wales East.

A party needs to win 31 seats to claim a majority but it has never happened, with Labour last time having 29 seats.

Having been in charge of the Welsh government for 22 years, Labour is now set to remain in power for a sixth term. They previously won 30 seats in 2003 and 2011.

Plaid Cymru has won five constituency seats, holding on to Arfon, Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Ynys Mon, Ceredigion, and Carmarthen East and Dinefwr.

With three of the five regional list results declared so far, Plaid has won four list seats, the Conservatives four, Labour three and the Liberal Democrats one.

Labour First Minister Mark Drakeford, who extended his majority for his Cardiff West seat by more than 10,000 votes, said he was delighted his party had “exceeded expectations”.

“Did I think we would be up approaching the top of the twenties? That was probably at the top end of what I thought was achievable, given the extraordinary circumstances of this election,” he said.

Mr Drakeford said he will wait until all election results are in today before he thinks about forming a new government.

“I will want to sit down tomorrow [Saturday] when we have a full suite of results in front of us to think about how we can achieve what we need here in Wales, which is a stable and progressive government.”

Despite the challenges of the pandemic, more than 1.1 million people voted, making it the highest-ever turnout for a Senedd election at 46.6%.

This beat the previous record of 46.3% at the first Senedd election in 1999, but is still significantly lower than turnout for general elections.