Regional List: explained

Many have asked me to explain how the regional top up works for the National Assembly. So below. I've tried to explain it. 

This will be my last blog for  a week or so, as I'm off on holidays!

Regions and Voting

There are five regions, each electing four regional AMs. This gives an additional 20 regional seats to top the 40 elected on the first past the post system based on constituencies.

A quota system invented by Belgian mathematician and lawyer Victor d'Hondt (1841 - 1901) is used for deciding the 20 regional seats.  Thus proving that there is more to Belgium than beer, chocolates and Tin Tin. 

Now back to the sums. It's all worked out on the total number of regional votes received by a party or independent candidate. These are then divided by the number of constituency seats already gained in the region +1. No, this not bad typing on my part the plus 1 is an essential part of the calculation.

Should you be a 'billy no mates' party with no constituency seats the number of votes you received in the whole of the region is divided by one. If the party has secured one constituency seat in that region then its number of votes is divided by two, if it has two seats in that region it is divided by three, and so on. Simple, ain't it. If you don't understand it now then the Welsh standards of numeracy is lower than previously thought.


So, the rule is, the more constituency seats a political party wins, the harder it is to gain any additional seats through the regional list system. Now the overall allocation of seats is more proportional to the number of votes cast.

You can check it all - below.


This is how the system operated for the 2011 Assembly elections. Whether it is the best system is a question for another day, but Lord Richards thought not. 


When asked to make a recommendation he suggested a system of Single Transferable Vote based on multi-member seats based on local authority boundaries. So that all  Assembly Members would then be chosen in the same way.

North Wales Regional List

Labour 5 Const. AMs  +1	Conservative 2 Const. AMs +1	Plaid Cymru 2 Const. AMs +1	Lib.Democrat 0 Const. AMs +1	UKIP 0 Const. AMs +1
62,677/6	52,201/3	41,701/3	11,507/1	9,601/1
10,446	17,400  AM	13,900	11,507	9,601
10,466	13,050	13,900  AM	11,507	9,601
10,466	13,050  AM	10,425	11,507	9,601
10,466	10,440	10,425	11,507 AM	9,601

Mark Isherwood	Conservative
Antoinette Sandbach	Conservative
Llyr Huws Gruffydd	Plaid Cymru
Aled Roberts	Liberal Democrat

Party	Votes	Percentage
Conservative	52,201	26.8
Plaid Cymru	41,701	21.4
Liberal Democrat	11,507	5.9
Labour	62,677	32.2
UKIP	9,608	4.9
Socialist Labour Party	4,895	2.5
BNP	4,785	2.5
Green	4,406	2.3
Welsh Christian Party	1,401	0.7
Independent - Weyman	1,094	0.6
Communist Party of Britain	523	0.3

South Wales West Regional List

Labour 7 Const. AMs  +1	Conservative 0 Const. AMs +1	Plaid Cymru 0 Const. AMs +1	Lib.Democrat 0 Const. AMs +1	UKIP 0 Const. AMs +1
71,766/8	27,457/1	21,258/1	10,683/1	6619/1
8,970	27,457  AM	21,258	10,683	6619
8,970	13,728	21,258 AM	10,683	6619
8,970	13,728 AM	10,629	10,683	6619
8,970	9,152	10,629	10,683 AM	6619

Suzy Davies	Conservative
Byron Davies	Conservative
Bethan Jenkins	Plaid Cymru
Peter Black	Liberal Democrat

Party	Votes	Percentage
Conservative	27,457	17.8
Plaid Cymru	21,258	13.8
Liberal Democrat	10,683	6.9
Labour	71,766	46.9
UKIP	6,619	4.3
Socialist Labour Party	5,057	3.3
BNP	4,714	3.1
Green	3,952	2.6
Welsh Christian Party	1,602	1.0
Trade Unionist & Socialist against cuts	809	0.5
Communist Party of Britain	464	0.3

South Wales East Regional List

Labour 7 Const. AMs  +1	Conservative 1 Const. AMs +1	Plaid Cymru 0 Const. AMs +1	Lib.Democrat 0 Const. AMs +1	UKIP 0 Const. AMs +1
82,699/8	35,459/2	21,850/1	10,798/1	9,526/1
8,970	17,729	21,258  AM	10,798	9,526
8,970	17,729  AM	10,925	10,798	9,526
8,970	11,819  AM	10,925	10,798	9,526
8,970	8,864	10,925  AM	10,798	9,526

William Graham	Conservative
Antoinette Sandbach	Conservative
Jocelyn Davies	Plaid Cymru
Lindsay Whittle	Plaid Cymru

Party	Votes	Percentage
Conservative	35,459	19.6
Plaid Cymru	21,850	12.1
Labour	82,699	45.7
Liberal Democrat	10,798	6
UKIP	9,526	5.3
BNP	6,485	3.6
Green	4,857	2.7
Socialist Labour Party	4,427	2.4
Welsh Christian Party	1,904	1.3
English Democrats	1,904	1.1
Communist Party of Britain	578	0.3

South Wales Central Regional List

Labour 8 Const. AMs  +1	Conservative 0 Const. AMs +1	Plaid Cymru 0 Const. AMs +1	Lib.Democrat 0 Const. AMs +1	Green 0 Const. AMs +1
22,013/9	9.780/1	6,169/1	4,468/1	2,583/1
2,445	9.780    AM	6,169	4,468	2,583
2,445	4,890	6,169    AM	4,468	2,583
2,445	4,890  AM	3,084	4,468	2,583
2,445	3,260	3,084	4,468  AM	2,583

Andrew RT Davies	Conservative
David Melding	Conservative
Leanne Wood	Plaid Cymru
John Dixon	Liberal Democrat

Party	Votes	Percentage
Labour	22,013	43.1
Conservative	9,780	19.2
Plaid Cymru	6,169	12.1
Liberal Democrat	4,468	8.8
Green	2,583	5.1
UKIP	2,465	4.8
Socialist Labour Party	1,230	2.4
BNP	1,098	2.2
Communist Party of Britain	522	1.0
Monster Raving Loony Party	357	0.7
Trade Unionist & Socialist against cuts	219	0.4
Welsh Christian Party	156	0.3

Mid and West Wales Regional List

Labour 1 Const. AMs  +1	Conservative 3 Const. AMs +1	Plaid Cymru 3 Const. AMs +1	Lib.Democrat 1 Const. AMs +1	UKIP 0 Const. AMs +1
47,348/2	52,905/4	56,384/4	26,847/2	9,711/1
23,674  AM	13,226	14,096	13,423	9,711
15,782  AM	13,226	14,096	13,423	9,711
11,837	13,226	14,096   AM	13,423	9,711
11,837	13,226	11,276	13,423 AM	9,711

Elizabeth Joyce Watson	Labour
Rebecca Mary Evans	Labour
Simon Thomas	Plaid Cymru
William Powell	Liberal Democrat

Party	Votes	Percentage
Labour	47,348	22.5
Plaid Cymru	56,384	26.7
Liberal Democrat	26,847	12.7
Conservative	52,905	25.1
UKIP	9,711	4.6
Green	8,660	4.1
Socialist Labour Party	3,951	1.9
BNP	2,821	1.3
Communist Party of Britain	1,630	0.8
Welsh Christian Party	595	0.3