Cardiff Central (Senedd constituency)

Not to be confused with Cardiff Central (UK Parliament constituency).

Cardiff Central
National Assembly for Wales borough constituency
Cardiff Central shown within the South Wales Central electoral region and the region shown within Wales
Current National Assembly for Wales borough constituency
Created	1999
Party	Labour
AM	Jenny Rathbone
Preserved county	South Glamorgan

Cardiff Central 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 eight constituencies in the South Wales Central electoral region, which elects four additional members, in addition to eight constituency members, to produce a degree of proportional representation for the region as a whole.

History

From 1999 Cardiff Central was a safe seat for the Liberal Democrats. However the seat was lost to Labour in 2011 with a huge 14.7% swing. In 2016 this was the Liberal Democrats target seat with their candidate Eluned Parrott a current regional AM for South Wales Central. The result actually saw a very slight increase in Labour's majority in a very disappointing night for the Liberal Democrats. The seat remains one of the most marginal in the assembly.

Furthermore in 2016 two former Big Brother (UK) participants were the candidates for Plaid Cymru and the Conservatives.

Boundaries

The constituency was created for the first election to the Assembly, in 1999, with the name and boundaries of the Cardiff Central Westminster constituency. It is entirely within the preserved county of South Glamorgan.

The other seven constituencies of the region are Cardiff North, Cardiff South and Penarth, Cardiff West, Cynon Valley, Pontypridd, Rhondda and Vale of Glamorgan.

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:Liberal Democrats (UK)/meta/color" |	1999	Jenny Randerson	Liberal Democrat
style="background-color: Template:Labour Party (UK)/meta/color" |	2011	Jenny Rathbone	Labour

Elections

Elections in the 2010s

Welsh Assembly Election 2016: Cardiff Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jenny Rathbone	10,016	38.4	+0.5
	Liberal Democrats	Eluned Parrott	9,199	35.3	−2.4
	Conservative	Joel Williams	2,317	8.9	−6.2
	Plaid Cymru	Glyn Wise	1,951	7.5	+0.3
	UKIP	Mohammed Islam	1,223	4.7	+4.7
	Green	Amelia Womack	1,150	4.4	+4.4
	Independent	Jane Croad	212	0.8	+0.8
Majority			817	3.1	+2.9
Turnout				45.6	+7.6
	Labour hold		Swing	+1.7

At the 2016 Election, this was the only seat in Wales where UKIP received less than 5% and thus lost their deposit.

Welsh Assembly Election 2011: Cardiff Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jenny Rathbone	8,954	37.9	+16.0
	Liberal Democrats	Nigel Howells	8,916	37.7	−13.4
	Conservative	Matt Smith	3,559	15.1	+1.1
	Plaid Cymru	Chris Williams	1,690	7.2	−1.1
	Independent	Mathab Khan	509	2.2	N/A
Majority			38	0.2
Turnout			23,628	38.0	+2.0
	Labour gain from Liberal Democrats		Swing	+14.7

Elections in the 2000s

Welsh Assembly Election 2007: Cardiff Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Randerson	11,462	51.2	−3.4
	Labour	Sue Lent	4,897	21.9	+2.0
	Conservative	Andrew Murphy	3,137	14.0	+2.5
	Plaid Cymru	Thomas Whitfield	1,855	8.3	−0.4
	UKIP	Frank Hughes	1,046	4.7	N/A
Majority			6,565	29.3	−5.4
Turnout			22,397	36.0	+3.0
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Welsh Assembly Election 2003: Cardiff Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Randerson	11,256	54.6	+12.4
	Labour	Geoff M. Mungham	4,100	19.9	−10.1
	Conservative	Craig S. Piper	2,378	11.5	−0.2
	Plaid Cymru	Owen John Thomas	1,795	8.7	−6.0
	Independent	Raja G. Raiz	541	2.6	N/A
	Independent	Captain Beany	289	1.4	N/A
	Independent	Madeleine E. Jeremy	239	1.2	N/A
Majority			7,156	34.7	+22.4
Turnout			21,052	33.7	−11.3
	Liberal Democrats hold		Swing

Elections in the 1990s

Welsh Assembly Election 1999: Cardiff Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal Democrats	Jenny Randerson	10,937	42.3	N/A
	Labour	Mark Drakeford	7,769	30.0	N/A
	Plaid Cymru	Owen John Thomas	3,795	14.7	N/A
	Conservative	Stephen Jones	3,034	11.7	N/A
	Socialist Alliance	Julian Goss	338	1.3	N/A
Majority			3,168	12.3	N/A
Turnout			25,873	44.8	N/A
	Liberal Democrats win (new seat)