Wales Green Party leader Anthony Slaughter talks PR, the Senedd and beyond.
With 2023 now well underway, and spring threatening to arrive, I am increasingly excited and inspired by the levels of activity and campaigning I am seeing in our local parties across Wales. Following our historic breakthrough last May in getting Greens elected across the country in the Local Authority elections, members can see the potential for even more electoral success in the future and are working hard in their communities and getting our Green message heard. In particular, the tireless work of our elected Green councillors is showing the very real difference elected Greens can make, speaking up for their residents and helping deliver real change. Going forward I am confident we will continue to build on this success and achieve even greater elected representation across Wales for all our communities.
I am also very excited by the very real prospects for Wales Green Party to achieve electoral success at a national level, breaking through and getting Green elected representation at the Senedd, our national parliament, in 2026. Having come frustratingly close to achieving this in 2021 our chances have never been better.
The election in 2026 will be held using a different voting system from previous Senedd elections. The size of the Senedd will increase from 60 to 96 members and there will be no element of ‘First past the post’ voting. Instead the proposed new 32 Welsh parliamentary constituencies will be paired to create sixteen Senedd constituencies. Each of these constituencies will elect a list of six Senedd members using the D’Hondt method. This is the voting system that was used to elect the regional seats in previous elections.
These changes greatly increase our chance of success. Campaigning across these new Senedd constituencies, geographically much smaller than the previous electoral regions, we will be able to target and focus our resources much more effectively, increase our vote share across Wales and get the Green representation in the Senedd that Wales so desperately needs. In some constituencies an increase of as little as 2.4% of the vote share would enable us to make this historic breakthrough.
Getting Greens elected to the Senedd will be a game changer for our party and Wales. We can see the difference our sister party in Scotland is making, having gone from electing their first parliamentarian several years ago to now being a party of government delivering radical and much needed change. Wales deserves no less.
I am confident that we can, and will, achieve this ambitious breakthrough . To do this we will need to continue to build on our recent successes, growing our party across Wales, increasing membership and building up resources. We are in a stronger position than ever before and I would like to thank you all for everything that you are doing in your local parties and communities to ensure our Green voice is heard, but also to thank you in advance for all we are going to do working together in the coming years to deliver the change Wales needs with Green representation in the Senedd.
Diolch.
