The former First Minister claimed the new electoral system he helped to introduce will prevent Reform UK from forming a government in Wales
20:49, 29 Oct 2025Updated 21:15, 29 Oct 2025
Mark Drakeford has defended the new voting system he helped to introduce(Image: WalesOnline/Rob Browne)
Former first minister Mark Drakeford has defended the proportional representation (PR) electoral system that will be used to elect Senedd members in May’s elections. Mr Drakeford, who has long called for greater PR, claimed the new system he helped to introduce will prevent Reform UK from forming a government in Wales.
His comments come days after Reform leader Nigel Farage claimed his party would succeed under the new electoral system, which is why he “can’t be disappointed” by their loss to Plaid Cymru in the Caerphilly by-election.
Under the new system that will be used when people go to the polls in May, the public will elect 96 Senedd members, up from 60.
People will vote for a closed list of party candidates, who will be elected in proportion to the number of votes won by their party using the D’Hondt formula.
This means voters in each of the 16 new, larger constituencies will vote for a party they want to win the most seats, out of the six available for each constituency.
Under the old system, 40 Senedd members were elected in ‘first past the post’ constituencies, with an additional 20 members elected by proportional representation.
Speaking on a podcast hosted by Labour MS for Llanelli Lee Walters in mid October, Mr Drakeford defended the system brought in through a law pushed through while he was still first minister as part of a co-operation agreement with Plaid Cymru.
He said: “What the new voting system guarantees is that there will be a progressive government in Wales after the election because we will have a system where if 30% of the population in Wales vote for a party of the far right, you’ll have 30% of the votes in the Senedd.
“70% of votes will continue to be parties who broadly share a progressive idea of what the future of Wales should be like.”
Mr Drakeford went on to say that under the old system, it would be “likely” for Reform to win a significant number of seats.
“I think the new system guarantees a greater sense of continuity than if we were facing an election under our current system, where it’s very likely a Reform insurgent party would take a whole swathe of the 40 first past the post seats on 32% of the vote – and we are mercifully defended against that.”
However, the latest Wales-wide polling ahead of next year’s Senedd election, released last month by ITV Cymru Wales/Barn Cymru, shows that Reform UK could still win a huge swathe of seats under the new proportional system.
The YouGov poll put Plaid Cymru and Reform UK almost equally matched with just 1% between them. In terms of seats, Plaid could take 38 of the 96 seats, with Reform UK in second with 37. Labour would be trailing in third with just 11.
No party appears to be in a position to get a majority according to the poll with it likely that parties will have to work with each other to build a post-election coalition.
Following the Caerphilly by-election on Thursday, October 23, , Mr Farage claimed the new system would fair well for his party. Lindsay Whittle was elected as the new Plaid Cymru member for Caerphilly after winning 47% of the vote, while Reform’s candidate Llyr Powell was 3,000 votes behind on 36%.
Looking forward to May’s elections, Mr Farage said: “They’ll be fought under D’Hondt. If that result was repeated across Caerphilly and Blaenau next year, there’d be three Plaid members and three Reform members. So I can’t be disappointed by that in any way at all. We’re cracking on.”