1972 Merthyr Tydfil by-election

The Merthyr Tydfil by-election of 13 April 1972 was held after the death of S. O. Davies on 25 February the same year. The Labour Party won the by-election in what had traditionally been a safe seat, although Davies had been elected in the 1970 general election as an Independent after he had been deselected due to his age.

Results

Merthyr Tydfil, 1972

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Edward Rowlands	15,562	48.58	+19.89
	Plaid Cymru	Emrys Roberts	11,852	37.0	+27.44
	Conservative	Christopher Barr	2,336	7.29	−2.56
	Communist	Arthur Lewis Jones	1,519	4.74	N/A
	Liberal	Angus Donaldson	765	2.39	N/A
Majority			3,710	11.58
Turnout			32,034
	Labour gain from Independent		Swing

NB: If one combines the totals for Labour and Independent Labour from the 1970 election the total was 80.59% making a loss of 32.01% of the vote.