Wales

Download the Elections and Referendum Booklet

 

On Thursday 5 May 2011, there will be:

• elections to the National Assembly for Wales, and
• a UK-wide referendum on the voting system you use to elect MPs to the House of Commons

 

National Assembly for Wales elections

 

The National Assembly for Wales has powers to make laws for Wales on a range of areas including agriculture, education, the environment, health and housing.

There are 60 elected Assembly Members (AMs). Forty are constituency members, meaning they represent one National Assembly for Wales constituency. The other 20 are regional members, meaning they represent one of the five electoral regions of Wales. Each electoral region includes a number of constituencies.

If you live in Wales, you are represented by five AMs. One represents your Assembly constituency and the other four all represent your region.

For more about the National Assembly for Wales, go to http://www.assemblywales.org/

 

How do I vote in the National Assembly for Wales elections?

 

You will receive two ballot papers like the ones pictured below. There will be a ballot paper to elect your constituency member and a ballot paper to elect your regional members.

Use this ballot paper to vote for a candidate to represent your constituency. To vote, mark a cross (X) in the box opposite the name of one candidate. The candidate with the most votes wins.

 

 

Use this ballot paper to vote for a party or individual candidate to represent your region. To vote, mark a cross (X) in the box opposite the name of one party or individual candidate. In each region, parties and individual candidates win seats based on:

• the number of votes they receive in this regional ballot, and
• the number of constituency seats that parties win in the region

 

 

Find out how the votes are counted in Wales

Find out further information on the referendum on the voting system used to elect MPs

The registration deadline for the National Assembly for Wales elections and the referendum is 14 April.

Register to vote

Ways of voting