Aberavon (Senedd constituency)

Not to be confused with Aberavon (UK Parliament constituency).

Aberavon is a constituency of the National Assembly for Wales. It elects one Assembly Member by the first past the post method of election. Also, however, it is one of seven constituencies in the South Wales West electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to seven constituency members, to produce a degree of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

History

Having only elected Labour AMs with huge majority this can be considered a Labour safe seat. Plaid Cymru are Labour's main opposition in the constituency and have been since its creation.

Party averages from 5 elections: Labour - 54.9, Plaid Cymru - 18.4, Conservative - 9.3, Lib Dem - 8.6,

UKIP stood for the first time in this constituency in the 2016 election and finished third with 15.0% of the vote.

Boundaries

The constituency was created for the first election to the Assembly, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of the Aberavon Westminster constituency, and it is entirely within the preserved county of West Glamorgan. Boundaries were unchanged by the review whose proposals come into effect for the 2007 Welsh Assembly election.

The constituency is composed of the Neath Port Talbot electoral divisions: Aberavon, Baglan, Briton Ferry East, Briton Ferry West, Bryn & Cwmavon, Coedffranc Central, Coedffranc North, Coedffranc West, Cymmer, Glyncorrwg, Gwynfi, Margam, Port Talbot, Sandlands East, Sandlands West, and Tai-bach.

The other six constituencies of the region are Bridgend, Gower, Neath, Ogmore, Swansea East and Swansea West.

Voting

In general elections for the National Assembly for Wales, each voter has two votes. The first vote may be used to vote for a candidate to become the Assembly Member for the voter's constituency, elected by the first past the post system. The second vote may be used to vote for a regional closed party list of candidates. Additional member seats are allocated from the lists by the d'Hondt method, with constituency results being taken into account in the allocation.

Assembly Members

Election		Member	Party	Portrait
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	1999	Brian Gibbons	Labour
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	2011	David Rees	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Aberavon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Rees	10,578	50.7	−13.4
	Plaid Cymru	Bethan Jenkins	4,176	20.0	+5.2
	UKIP	Glenda Davies	3,119	15.0	+15.0
	Conservative	David Jenkins	1,342	6.4	−7.9
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Ceri Clarke	1,248	6.0	−0.8
	Green	Jonathan Tier	389	1.9	+1.9
Majority			6,402	30.7	−18.6
Turnout			20,852	42.5	+5.5
	Labour hold		Swing	−9.3

Welsh Assembly Election 2011: Aberavon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	David Rees	12,104	64.1	+14.8
	Plaid Cymru	Paul Nicholls-Jones	2,793	14.8	−2.5
	Conservative	T. Morgan	2,704	14.3	+4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Helen Ceri Clarke	1,278	6.8	−0.3
Majority			9,311	49.3	+17.3
Turnout			18,879	37	−2.8
	Labour hold		Swing	+8.7

Elections in the 2000s

Welsh Assembly Election 2007: Aberavon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Brian Gibbons	10,129	49.3	−10.1
	Plaid Cymru	Linett Purcell	3,558	17.3	−0.4
	Independent	Andrew Tutton	2,561	12.5	+12.5
	Conservative	Daisy Meyland-Smith	1,990	9.7	+0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Claire Waller	1,450	7.1	−2.7
	New Millennium Bean Party	Captain Beany	840	4.1	+4.1
Majority			6,571	32.0	−9.7
Turnout			20,528	39.8	+2.4
	Labour hold		Swing	−11.3

Welsh Assembly Election 2003: Aberavon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Brian Gibbons	11,137	59.4	+8.1
	Plaid Cymru	Geraint D. Owen	3,324	17.7	−4.6
	Liberal Democrats	Claire Waller	1,840	9.8	−3.8
	Conservative	Myr A. Boult	1,732	9.2	+2.3
	Independent	Robert Williams	608	3.2	+3.2
	Independent	Gwenno M. Saunders	114	0.6	N/A
Majority			7,813	41.7	+12.7
Turnout			18,755	37.7	−9.4
	Labour hold		Swing	+6.4

Elections in the 1990s

Welsh Assembly Election 1999: Aberavon

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Brian Gibbons	11,941	51.3	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Janet Davies	5,198	22.3	N/A
	Liberal Democrats	Keith Davies	3,165	13.6	N/A
	Conservative	Mary E. Davies	1,624	7.0	N/A
	Independent	Captain Beany	849	3.6	N/A
	Independent	David Pudner	517	2.2	N/A
Majority			6,743	29.0	N/A
Turnout			23,294	46.9	N/A
	Labour win (new seat)

See also

• Politics of Wales