Plaid Cymru’s Rhun ap Iorwerth voted first minister of Wales | Welsh politics

Rhun ap Iorwerth was elected first minister of Wales after Plaid Cymru’s Senedd election victory ended 100 years of Labor hegemony and halted the UK Reformation.

Ap Iorwerth was approved following a plenary vote on Tuesday, with the support of his party’s 43 Senedd members and two Greens.

Plaid Cymru won the most seats in the newly expanded 96-seat parliament in last week’s election, ending Labour’s century-long electoral dominance in Wales. Reform, which had hoped to become the largest party, won 34 seats, while Labor came third with just nine seats, putting a definitive end to the party’s dominance in its homeland.

Former Labor first minister Eluned Morgan lost her seat, triggering a leadership race. Ken Skates, Senedd member for Fflint Wrecsam and former cabinet secretary for transport, took over as interim leader.

Under Wales’ new, more representative electoral system, a minimum of 49 seats is required for a majority. Neither party was likely to win it, but Friday’s results put Plaid Cymru in a comfortable position to form a minority government.

Ap Iorwerth has previously told the Guardian that he would seek mature cooperation with all opposition parties on a case-by-case basis and that his administration would press the UK government to take extra powers over policy areas such as policing and justice, rather than engaging in political fights with Westminster.

Plaid Cymru has ruled out an independence referendum during the next term of the Senedd but the party has repeatedly said it will use its time in government to defend an independent Wales.

The Senedd also named Labor deputy leader Huw Irranca-Davies as the new Llywydd, or president, ahead of the first ministerial vote. Ap Iorwerth is expected to start appointing cabinet secretaries on Tuesday afternoon.

More details coming soon…