Summary

  • All the 40 constituency seats have been declared, along with 12 regional seats

  • The tally at the end of Friday is: Labour 30, Conservatives 12, Plaid Cymru 9, Lib Dems 1

  • Labour has held on to all but one of its seats targeted by the Conservatives

  • The Tories narrowly take Vale of Clwyd from Labour and beat the Liberal Democrats in Brecon and Radnorshire

  • It means the Lib Dems will have no constituency seats in the Senedd, but they have picked up a regional seat

  • Plaid have held three seats in their north-west heartlands all with increased majorities - but lose Rhondda to Labour

  • This is the first election in which 16 and 17-year-olds can vote

  • Voters have elected 40 Members of the Senedd (MS) representing constituencies and 20 representing five large regions

  • 31 seats are needed for a majority

  • In 2016, Labour won 29 seats, Plaid Cymru 12, the Conservatives 11, UKIP seven and the Liberal Democrats one

  1. Under-40s to be offered alternative to AstraZeneca vaccinepublished at 11:38 British Summer Time 7 May 2021
    Breaking

    A bit of breaking news away from the election to bring you.

    Most under-40s will now be offered an alternative to the Oxford-AstraZeneca Covid vaccine.

    The UK's medicines safety regulator said there had been 242 clotting cases after 28.5 million doses of the vaccine were administered.

    As a "precautionary measure", the Welsh government said it would be following the advice.

    More than 1.2 million people have received the AZ vaccine in Wales since January, with "very few cases" of the rare clotting, a spokesman added.

  2. Some counts yet to beginpublished at 11:28 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    A woman counting votes in CardiffImage source, Getty Images

    Although some counts are under way across Wales, others won't get going until a bit later.

    The count for Wrexham and Clwyd South, for example, won't start until about 13:00 BST.

    However, we will have some results to give you in the early afternoon, so stick with us.

  3. What is each party promising?published at 11:15 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Want to remind yourself of what each party promised in their manifestos in the build up to the election?

    You can find all the key details, broken down by topic, on our explainer page

  4. Couple standing for different parties await resultpublished at 10:59 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Aaron Wynne and Leena FarhatImage source, Aaron Wynne

    Couples aren't unknown in the political world - Bill and Hillary Clinton, Yvette Cooper and Ed Balls, Stephen Kinnock and former Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning-Schmidt.

    But not many stand in the same election for different parties.

    That's the case for Leena Farhat, a Welsh Lib Dem candidate for Clwyd South, and Aaron Wynne, a Plaid Cymru candidate in Aberconwy.

    The couple have been together for 18 months and knew about their differing political allegiances when they met.

    They'll be waiting to see if either or both of them can grab a seat in the Senedd.

    Here's what they said when we spoke to them in the run up to the election.

  5. Too tight to callpublished at 10:48 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    As one candidate tweeted earlier, there are several marginal seats which could swing the result of the election.

    Here are six seats to keep an eye on, each of which were won by fewer than 1,000 votes in 2016:

    • Llanelli (Labour) 382 vote lead over Plaid Cymru
    • Blaenau Gwent (Labour) 650 ahead of Plaid
    • Aberconwy (Conservatives) 754 ahead of Plaid
    • Vale of Clywd (Labour) 768 ahead of the Conservatives
    • Vale of Glamorgan (Labour) 777 ahead of the Conservatives
    • Cardiff Central (Labour) 817 ahead of the Liberal Democrats

    Other seats will need larger swings to change hands, but several Labour strongholds fell to the Conservatives in the 2019 general election, so there could be a few surprises in store.

  6. Nerves for candidates in marginal seatspublished at 10:31 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Several seats could be decided by razor thin margins today, which can lead to a nervous wait for candidates standing, as Lee Waters tweets.

    Mr Waters was elected as MS for Llanelli in 2016 by a margin of just 382 votes ahead of Plaid Cymru.

    A small swing in votes could lead to drastically different outcomes for several candidates.

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  7. What is an MS anyway?published at 10:22 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Today's election results will tell us who will be the 60 Members of the Senedd to represent us over the next five years.

    But what is an MS?

    Well, if you're familiar with the term assembly member - or AM - it is exactly the same.

    A year ago, the name of the Welsh assembly changed to the bilingual Welsh Parliament/Senedd, with the names of its members changing from AM to MS (Member of the Senedd).

    If you want to know more about what the term means, you can read more about it here.

  8. Why did I have three ballot papers?published at 10:09 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    If you voted yesterday and are wondering why you had three different ballot papers, there's a simple explanation.

    Every person in Wales is represented by two Members of the Senedd, one for each constituency and one for the regional list, which covers a much larger area. These are the results we'll get today.

    Constituencies are decided on by first-past-the-post system, meaning the candidate with the most votes wins the seat.

    Regional lists are decided via proportional representation, with four candidates elected for each region.

    The third and final vote cast yesterday was for police and crime commissioners.

    Those results will be announced on Sunday.

  9. Dogs at polling stationspublished at 09:52 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Probably the best part of any polling day. Here are some of our favourite dogs at polling stations from across the UK yesterday.

    Dog at polling station in CardiffImage source, PA Media
    Many dogs sat on a benchImage source, Anna Skipworth/@hellosocialLdn
    A blonde sausage dog in a red bow tieImage source, Emma Hopkins

    There are plenty more dog pictures available here

  10. Five things to find out from this electionpublished at 09:42 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Covid-19 social distancing signImage source, Getty Images

    There's plenty of intrigue on results day, with lots of marginal seats and questions which will be answered as results start to trickle in.

    Can Labour keep hold of its so-called "red walls" - one of which fell to the Tories in the 2019 general election?

    How will the regional seats play out? How will leadership factor in for each party's results?

    Our Welsh affairs editor, Vaughan Roderick, discusses this in more detail here.

  11. 'Do I get a sticker?' How did first time voters feel?published at 09:32 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Media caption,

    Young voters: 'I was so happy to be part of this historic moment'

    As with any election, a number of younger people were eligible to vote for the first time, including 16 and 17-year-olds.

    Two of those who voted spoke to BBC Radio Wales this morning.

    Oscar Griffin, 18, from Cardiff said: “I felt there was a lot of build-up, there’s been a lot of campaigning about how important it is for young people to vote in this election and it took 10 seconds.

    “You just write on the paper and you leave and that’s it and you think ‘do I get a sticker? Is that it'?"

    Sixteen-year-old Rosie said: “I enjoyed it. It felt like an experience that was a sort of first step for me towards my independence in this country and it was a very lovely experience."

  12. Counting has startedpublished at 09:21 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Counts have begun as we start the process of finding out the results for this Senedd election.

    Thousands of votes need to be tallied up at each count, with the first results expected in the early afternoon.

    An election count in CardiffImage source, Getty Images
  13. Trainee surgeon gave up on vote after trying twice due to queuespublished at 09:11 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    A trainee surgeon from Cardiff says he tried twice to vote yesterday, but was unable to because of long queues outside polling stations.

    Frank Sanders, from Canton, said: "First time I was on my way into work and I stopped off and there was already a queue that was too long.

    "I stayed there for 10 minutes but I wasn’t moving at all. And then I went back in the evening and it was preposterously long.

    "My neighbours just got back and said they were an hour and 45 minutes, so I went to have a look and it was even longer than when they were there.

    “I couldn’t stay and wait because it was 9.30pm, I’ve got to get up and go to work this morning so I couldn’t, I felt I was unable to vote and that was taken away from me because of the queues.”

    Others tweeted the frustration at the waiting times outside the polling stations.

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  14. 'All systems go' despite ballot paper errorpublished at 09:02 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    The returning officer for north Wales says the count is "all systems go" despite a candidate's name being left off some ballot papers.

    A box wasn't included for independent candidate Michelle Brown on some ballot papers in the region.

    Colin Everett said: “It’s very unfortunate and I’ve spoken to the candidate personally yesterday.

    "It’s a local printing error. It only affects two of the nine constituencies and as soon as I became aware of the error, I was able to assist with the Electoral Commission, my colleagues in Ynys Mon and Gwynedd to correct it for voters during the day."

  15. Candidate's name left off ballot in errorpublished at 08:49 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Michelle Brown

    An independent candidate's name was left off some election ballots in what returning officers said was a "printing error".

    Some voting papers for the regional north Wales seat did not include a box for Michelle Brown.

    Ms Brown, who previously sat in the Senedd for UKIP before leaving the party in 2019, said the mistake was an "affront to democracy".

    Returning officers said voters had been given the chance to vote for the full list at polling stations.

  16. Queues at polling stations in Covid-hit electionpublished at 08:40 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    The challenges of holding an election in times of social distancing were plain to see yesterday.

    Some claimed they were forced to queue for more than an hour-and-a-half, with tighter limits on the number of people allowed in polling stations.

    Others said they gave up and went home, with work schedules leaving them unable to queue for such a length of time.

    People queueing at polling station
  17. Good morning and welcomepublished at 08:29 British Summer Time 7 May 2021

    Hello and a very warm welcome to our live coverage of today's Welsh Parliament/Senedd election results.

    Unlike previous elections, where we'd already have brought you most of the results from across the country by now, Covid restrictions mean the counts are taking place in the daytime, rather than their usual overnight slots.

    It should mean everyone's a little less tired as we announce the results throughout the day.

    Stay with us as we do.