Votes to be counted in 2021 Senedd elections

WALES’ political landscape is taking shape this morning as votes in constituencies across the country begin to be counted.

The turnout for this election is clearly high, the sheer amount of voters coupled with social distancing regulations led some voters facing queues of over 90 minutes.

Despite massive queues at polling stations, some of which stayed open to allow those who had been queuing from before 10pm to cast their votes, we’re still anticipating results for the Senedd elections to start coming in from early afternoon today.

The counts – happening across the country today – are also affected by social distancing regulations. Less people are permitted to attend to ensure that strict rules about distancing are followed, this will have a knock-on effect on the speed that votes can be tallied and confirmed.

The body responsible for overseeing elections, The Electoral Commission, has confirmed that counting staff must be kept in smaller groups than normal with breaks being regularly offered to staff wearing face coverings.

Limits on the number of people attending from the political parties will, unfortunately, restrict the information that comes out about how a party expects to do.