Senedd: Labour, Plaid back keeping new voting system
- Published
Labour and Plaid Cymru have refused to change controversial reforms to elections for the Welsh Parliament.
From 2026, votes will be cast for parties instead of individual candidates as part of a plan to create a bigger 96-member Senedd.
Critics say it gives parties too much power to decide who gets elected.
A Conservative and Liberal Democrat bid to let voters choose favourite candidates was rejected in the Senedd on Tuesday.
The Labour Welsh government said it was making elections simpler by giving voters one ballot paper.
The current mix of local and regional members will be replaced by 16 new constituencies, each represented by six Members of the Senedd (MSs).
Parties would put forward lists of ranked candidates for every seat under a so-called closed list system.
It is contained in a Senedd reform bill, agreed between Labour and Plaid. The bill needs two-thirds of MSs to back it to become law.
Other proposals for more proportional electoral systems were rejected in favour of the closed system.
The Conservatives and Lib Dems called for a flexible list system, where voters could also back individual candidates and bump them up the list.
However a Lib Dem amendment requiring names of candidates to be included on the ballot paper was passed without a vote.
In a debate, Lib Dem and Tory MSs repeatedly asked Labour and Plaid politicians why they had accepted the closed system.
Labour MS Alun Davies said some in his party were opposed to other options, so he had accepted the "compromise" of closed lists to make sure the bill gets through.
"One step forward is better than no step forward," he said.
Plaid's Heledd Fychan said: "Our priority today is to ensure that our bold package of reforms is in place by 2026."
Conservative Darren Millar said Plaid had "rolled over to the demands of the Labour Party when they've clearly been told 'it's this way or you can shove your Senedd reform and expansion programme'."
Welsh Lib Dem leader Jane Dodds said the plan had "all the hallmarks of a backroom deal".
Labour's Mick Antoniw, who is overseeing the bill, said the closed list system would get the "necessary supermajority" of 40 members.
"The closed list system doesn't remove from voters a choice that they currently have," the counsel general said.
"Parties currently select their constituency candidates in the first past the post system."
Meanwhile Labour and Plaid also refused a bid to include a mechanism for misbehaving politicians to face a recall petition, giving voters a chance to throw them out through a by-election.
The system already exists in Westminster.
Mr Millar said: "Constituents should be able to express their view on members of the Senedd when their MS has committed serious wrongdoing."
Mr Antoniw did not support the amendment but said "there would be merit to exploring such a system".
He said the size of Mr Millar's amendments showed it was not a straightforward matter and "requires careful consideration".
He said the Senedd's standards committee had agreed to look at the issue, although he said the parliament's behaviour watchdog, the commissioner Douglas Bain, does not support recall.
Related topics
- Published30 January
- Published27 November 2023
- Published19 January
- Published12 December 2017
