2022 Welsh local elections

In the last local elections in 2017, 1,271 seats were elected. The Labour Party won 468 seats, independent candidates won 309 seats, Plaid Cymru won 208 seats, the Conservative Party won 184 seats and the Liberal Democrats won 63 seats. Other parties including the Green Party won 22 seats.[1] The 2022 Welsh local elections were initially scheduled for 2021, to give councillors a four-year term, but they were delayed to 2022 to avoid clashing with the 2021 Senedd election.[2] The 2021 Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act permanently changed the term length for councillors from four years to five years.[3]

Ahead of the 2022 elections, eleven of the twenty-two councils in Wales were under no overall control with no single party holding more than half of the seats. Labour controlled seven councils, Independents controlled two councils, and the Conservatives and Plaid Cymru each controlled one council.

The 2022 elections will be the first conducted following the passage of the 2021 Local Government and Elections (Wales) Act which makes a number of changes to local elections in Wales. Previously, only British, Irish, Commonwealth and European citizens aged over 18 could vote, whereas under the new law all legal residents of Wales who are aged 16 or over on polling day are eligible to vote in the local elections.[4] Councils can choose whether to conduct elections under first-past-the-post voting or the single transferable vote.[5]

Elections will be held for all councillors in all 22 local authorities, all of which will be conducted under new boundaries.