Independents should be allowed to stand
I FULLY agree with the Western Mail’s editorial column (May 11) but would like to elaborate somewhat on its content.
To put the proposed increase in Senedd membership from 60 to 96 MSs into context it surely merits comparison with the 90-member Northern Ireland Assembly and the 129-member Scottish Parliament. Even Carmarthenshire County Council has more with 75 members – 15 more than Wales’ Senedd. Thus 96 Senedd Members is very much in line with the other devolved administrations of the UK and, indeed, with those of many other countries of a similar size to Wales.
The editorial comment opposes the voting method proposed, namely the D’Hondt method, which does not allow candidates who are not members of political parties. In this respect this is worse than the current Westminster first-past-thepost voting system which permits non-party candidates. This allowed independent candidates like Martin Bell (1997 general election in Tatton, Cheshire) and Peter Law (2005 general election in Blaenau Gwent) to gain handsome majorities over party candidates. Moreover, the current Stormont Assembly has two independent members and the Scottish Parliament has one non-affiliated member, so why on earth should Wales’ Senedd deny the same democratic opportunity to individuals wishing to be candidates at its elections? For this reason I oppose introducing the D’Hondt system and strongly support the introduction of the single transferable vote version of proportional representation instead.
In my view, banning independent candidates from Senedd elections is deplorable and merits instigating a campaign against such an undemocratic development before it’s too late – beginning with a petition opposing it, perhaps. However, I would not be against preventing candidates who make a mockery of the electoral system from being candidates.
Gwyn Hopkins Llangennech, Llanelli