Plaid Cymru Leader Rhun ap Iorwerth is expected to be chosen as the first minister on Tuesday as new Members of the Senedd meet for the first time.
New members will attend the first Plenary of the seventh Senedd to elect the presiding officer (Llywydd) and a deputy. Once these roles are chosen, members will then vote on who should be the next first minister.
Rhun ap Iorwerth is expected to become the Senedd’s official ‘nominee’ for first minister after the leader of the Welsh Greens said his party will be voting for the Plaid Cymru leader.
On Sunday (10 May), Anthony Slaughter said Rhun ap Iorwerth has a "clear mandate" to be first minister. The Green leader and his colleague, Paul Rock, will both be voting in support of Mr ap Iorwerth leading the next Welsh Government.
This will be the first time a green MS has voted in the Senedd after the historic election of the two members last week.
On Sunday, the two Green Senedd Members said they would support Rhun ap Iorwerth, while the interim Leader of Welsh Labour Ken Skates suggested his party’s nine members will abstain from the vote to pick the first minister. The sole Liberal Democrat MS, Jane Dodds, also said she will abstain in the vote.
Those announcements have changed the arithmetic in the Senedd chamber and mean there is no other way another MS could be first minister as an individual needs more votes than are cast for all other candidates combined to win.
There are 41 Reform and Conservative MSs compared to the 45 that Rhun ap Iorwerth can now rely on.
Reform UK MS Llŷr Powell said his party will nominate their leader, Dan Thomas, to be first minister however they do not have the numbers in Senedd support to beat Plaid Cymru’s leader.
This will be the first time in the history of devolution that the first minister will not be from Welsh Labour, after their party suffered an historic defeat in the election.
Born in south Wales, Mr ap Iorwerth, 53, grew up on Anglesey and was educated at Ysgol David Hughes. He went on to study politics and Welsh at Cardiff University.
A former BBC journalist and married father-of-three, he made the move into politics and became a Member of the Senedd in 2013 after winning a by-election in Ynys Môn.
He took over leadership of his party in 2023 during a troubled period for the party after his predecessor, Adam Price, resigned in the wake of a report finding there was a culture of sexual harassment, bullying and misogyny in Plaid Cymru.
Mr ap Iorwerth is in favour of Welsh independence and previously said his party would use time in government to make the case for an independent Wales. However he has ruled out a referendum in the first term.
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