A member of the Senedd is a representative elected to the Senedd. There are sixty members, with forty members chosen to represent individual Senedd constituencies, and twenty to represent the five electoral regions of the Senedd in Wales.
The Senedd, officially known as the Welsh Parliament in English and Senedd Cymru in Welsh, is the devolved, unicameral legislature of Wales. A democratically elected body, it makes laws for Wales, agrees to certain taxes, and scrutinises the Welsh Government. It is a bilingual institution, with both Welsh and English being the official languages of its business. From its creation in May 1999 until May 2020, the Senedd was officially known as the National Assembly for Wales and was often simply called the Welsh Assembly.
The Welsh Government is the executive arm of the devolved government of Wales. The government consists of cabinet secretaries and ministers. It is led by the first minister, usually the leader of the largest party in the Senedd, who selects ministers with the approval of the Senedd. The government is responsible for tabling policy in devolved areas for consideration by the Senedd and implementing policy that has been approved by it.
Helen Mary Jones is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician, who was a member of the Senedd from 1999 to 2011 and again from 2018 to 2021.
Mair Eluned Morgan, Baroness Morgan of Ely,, is a Welsh Labour politician who has served as First Minister of Wales and Leader of Welsh Labour since 2024. She previously served as Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care in the Welsh Government from 2021 to 2024.
The Wales Green Party is a semi-autonomous political party within the Green Party of England and Wales (GPEW). It covers Wales, and is the only regional party with semi-autonomous status within the GPEW. The Wales Green Party puts up candidates for council, Senedd, and UK Parliament seats.
Funky Dragon was a children and young people's assembly for Wales. It was a peer-led organisation that provided opportunities for young people up to the age of 25 to have their voices heard on issues that affected them.
Politics in Wales forms a distinctive polity in the wider politics of the United Kingdom, with Wales as one of the four constituent countries of the United Kingdom (UK).
Votes at 16 is a campaign in the United Kingdom which argues in favour of the reduction of the voting age to 16 for all public elections. The campaign espouses several principles in favour of lowering the voting age.
The Senedd constituencies and electoral regions are the electoral districts used to elect members of the Senedd to the Senedd, and have been used in some form since the first election of the then National Assembly for Wales in 1999. New boundaries were introduced for the 2007 elections and currently consist of forty constituencies and five regions. The five electoral regions are: Mid and West Wales, North Wales, South Wales Central, South Wales East, and South Wales West, with the forty constituencies listed below. Voting last took place in all districts in the 2021 Senedd election, and is not used for local government.
There are four types of elections in Wales: elections to the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, elections to the devolved Senedd, local elections to community councils and the 22 principal areas, and the police and crime commissioner elections. In addition there are by-elections for each aforementioned election. Elections are held on Election Day, which is conventionally a Thursday. Three of these four types of elections are held after fixed periods; the exception is UK general elections, the timing of which is at the discretion of the prime minister of the United Kingdom. Senedd elections may be postponed to avoid elections to the UK parliament and Senedd coinciding with each other.
Welsh law is an autonomous part of the English law system composed of legislation made by the Senedd. Wales is part of the legal jurisdiction of England and Wales, one of the three legal jurisdictions of the United Kingdom. However, due to devolution, the law in Wales is increasingly distinct from the law in England, since the Senedd, the devolved parliament of Wales, can legislate on non-reserved matters.
Welsh independence is the political movement advocating for Wales to become a sovereign state, independent from the United Kingdom.
Welsh Young Liberals is the youth wing and student wing of the Welsh Liberal Democrats. Its membership is open to any member of the Liberal Democrats living, working or studying in Wales provided they are under 26 years of age or in education.
An Act of Senedd Cymru, or informally an Act of the Senedd, is primary legislation that can be made by the Senedd under part 4 of the Government of Wales Act 2006. Prior to 6 May 2020 any legislation was formally known as an Act of the National Assembly for Wales or informally, an Act of the Assembly.
Janet Elizabeth Finch-Saunders is a Welsh Conservative Party politician. She is the Member of the Senedd for the Aberconwy constituency.
Llŷr Huws Gruffydd, is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician, serving as a Member of the Senedd (MS) for the North Wales region since 2011. He acted as interim leader of Plaid Cymru from 16 May to 16 June 2023.
Siân Gwenllian is a Welsh Plaid Cymru politician who has represented the constituency of Arfon in the Senedd since 2016. She currently holds the seat with a majority of 8,642 votes.
Sarah Murphy is a Welsh Labour and Co-operative politician, serving as Minister for Mental Health and Wellbeing since July 2024.
Welsh devolution is the transfer of legislative powers for self-governance to Wales by the Parliament of the United Kingdom. The current system of devolution began following the enactment of the Government of Wales Act 1998, with the responsibility of various devolved powers granted to the Welsh Government rather than being the responsibility of the Government of the United Kingdom.
