NINE political parties and two independent candidates will contest the new Sir Fynwy Torfaen constituency at May’s Senedd election.
The May 7 poll is the first time voters will be asked to elect 96, rather than 60 members from across Wales, to the Senedd with everyone aged 16 and over entitled to vote.
For the election the existing 32 Westminster seats in Wales have been paired to create 16 super constituencies which will each elect six Members of Senedd to represent their areas for the next four years.
Seats in each constituency will be allocated according to the percentage, or share of, the vote each party or individual candidate receives with the intention the seats will better reflect how votes were cast for different parties or individuals.
The greater percentage of the vote in each constituency a party receives the more of its list, of up to eight candidates, will be elected. It is expected around a 12 per cent vote share will be needed to claim one of the six seats and around 10 per cent on top for subsequent candidates to be elected.
Of the larger parties only Labour has put forward a list of more than six, with the Conservatives, Greens, Plaid Cymru, Reform UK and the Liberal Democrats all naming six candidates which ensures they can spend up to maximum limit on election expenses.
Parties have ranked their candidates in preference order with the first ranked candidate the first to be elected if the party meets the threshold and so on.
If an elected member is unable to complete their term of office the next ranked candidate on the party list will be expected to take the seat. Elected members will no longer be able to switch their party allegiance, and sit as a member of another party, in the Senedd.
The outgoing Senedd Members for Monmouthshire and Torfaen are both standing in the election, with Peter Fox who was first elected to the Senedd in 2021, topping the Conservative list and Labour’s Lynne Neagle, an ever present since the first National Assembly for Wales was established in 1999, holding top spot for Labour.
Laura Anne Jones, who was one of four MSs who represented South East Wales, is the highest ranked candidate on Reform UK’s list. The five former regionals, which were elected using the proportional system, have now been scrapped along with the 40 constituency seats which used the first past the post system in which a candidate only needed a simple majority to be elected.
Ms Jones was elected for the Conservatives in 2021 but defected to Reform in summer 2025.
Other notable candidates include the Labour leader of Torfaen Borough Council Anthony Hunt, who is second on the party list while Richard John who leads the Conservative opposition group on Monmouthshire council is its second ranked candidate.
Ian Chandler who is the Green Party member of Monmouthshire’s Labour-led cabinet is the top ranked candidate for the party which is hoping the new electoral system will help it win its first seats in Cardiff Bay.
Also hoping for an electoral breakthrough is Plaid Cymru, which has won seats in South East Wales region previously. It has put Matthew Jones, who stood for the party in Torfaen at the 2024 General Election, top of its list.
Monmouthshire, like the Torfaen constituency, has only ever been won by one party in devolved elections and a number of parties will be hoping the new system of six representatives for each constituency will pave the way to Cardiff Bay for them.
Along with Reform, which is hoping to win its first seats through the ballot box, are centre right Welsh nationalist party Gwlad, the socially conservative Heritage Party and the Open Party which says it supports “experienced members of the public” to stand for election.
Owen Lewis, who ran as an independent, in the 2024 General Election in Monmouthshire is standing as an independent as is a candidate named Welsh Pool.
As well as 16 and 17-year-olds foreign nationals are eligible to register and vote in a Senedd election. The deadline to register is Monday, April 20 and you can register at https://www.gov.uk/register-to-vote.
Full list of candidates for Sir Fynwy Torfaen
Welsh Conservatives
Peter Fox
Richard John
Lisa Dymock
Nathan Edmunds
Rachel Buckler
Chase Blount
Green Party
Ian Chandler
Emily Williams
Charlie Aldous
Lauren Sellers
Darren Share
Angus Ilmari Paget
Gwlad – Wales Can Be Better
Brad Williams
Heritage Party
Emma Meredith
Open Party
Joseph John Nicholson
David Carl Atkins
Plaid Cymru – The Party of Wales
Matthew Jones
Donna Cushing
Jayne Louise Israel
David Johnson
Gwen Loti Glyn
Huw David Evans
Reform UK
Laura Anne Jones
Stephen John Senior
Bob Blacker
David John Rowlands
Mark Morgan Urrutia
Gerard Majella Hancock
Welsh Labour
Lynne Neagle
Anthony Hunt
Laura Elizabeth Wright
Catrin Maby
Ben Callard
Nick Byrne
Su McConnel
Welsh Liberal Democrats
Kevin Wilkins
Brendan Carl Jeff Roberts
Vicky Hepburn-John
Anthea Madeline Dewhurst
Martin Sutherland
Iwan Elliot Thomas
Details of individual candidates
LEWIS, Owen Independent
POOL, Welsh Annibynnol / Independent
