Abolish Welsh Assembly party 'to be struck off electoral register'
- Published
The National Assembly for Wales - now known as the Welsh Parliament - was set up in 1999
The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party is due to be struck off the electoral register following an internal row.
The party, which has never won a seat at a Welsh election, sacked its former leader David Bevan from its board in April and claimed he refused to renew the party's paperwork.
It will not be able to field candidates at next year's Senedd poll unless it re-registers before February 2021.
But a spokesman said it was already re-registering.
The latest Welsh Political Barometer poll, external suggests the party is currently on course to win four of the 60 seats in the Welsh Parliament in 2021.
It won 4.4% of the regional list vote at the 2016 election.
In April, Mr Bevan was removed as a board member and nominating officer for being "ineffectual, non-progressive and quasi-useless", according to a spokesman for the party.
Former leader David Bevan has refused to resign as the party's nominating officer
The spokesman added: "David, obviously disgruntled by this, refused to sign the Electoral Commission annual return unless he was reinstated, thereby, in the board's view, attempting to blackmail the party.
"The Electoral Commission stated that he could only be removed with his own consent, which we found outrageous, leaving us with two options; succumb to the attempted blackmail or allow the party to de-register and re-register again.
"We chose the latter option with counsel from the Electoral Commission and see no reason why the re-registration process should not take place within the six-week timescale the Electoral Commission sets out."
Mr Bevan told BBC Wales he "refused to resign as a nominating officer."
Former Tory MP and UKIP assembly member Mark Reckless has joined the party
The party was first registered in July 2015 and took sixth place in the 2016 elections for the Senedd, ahead of the Greens and the Liberal Democrats in two of the five regional lists.
To remain registered, each year a party must confirm that its registered details are correct and pay a £25 fee.
The Electoral Commission is required by law to remove Abolish from the electoral register because the party failed to confirm its details by the deadline of 31 October 2020.
The Abolish the Welsh Assembly Party has never won a seat in a Welsh election but has two members in Cardiff Bay following the defections of two members of the Senedd (MSs) who were initially elected to represent UKIP.
Mark Reckless, who has sat as a UKIP, independent, Brexit Party and now Abolish member since the 2016 election, joined the party in October "to help give those opposed to devolution a proper voice".
Former UKIP group leader Gareth Bennett announced his defection to Abolish in June, saying the Senedd was "an overpriced, unnecessary tier of politicians".
The latest Welsh Political Barometer Poll for ITV Cymru Wales and Cardiff University suggests on the constituency vote Labour's support is on 38%, with the Conservatives on 27%, Plaid Cymru on 20%, Brexit Party on 5%, and 3% each for the Liberal Democrats and Greens.
On the regional vote, Labour is on 33%, Conservatives 24%, Plaid Cymru 20%, Abolish 7%, Brexit Party 5%, and 4% each for the Liberal Democrats and the Greens.
As well as the four seats for Abolish, the projections are that Labour would win 28 seats, Conservatives 16, Plaid Cymru 11, and the Liberal Democrats one seat if the survey's findings of support were reflected at the election.
The poll asked how people would vote if there was a referendum on abolishing the Senedd, which suggested 27% would vote for scrapping it with 48% against.
On the question of how people would vote in an independence referendum, 23% said they would support an independent Wales with 53% against.
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