Taking Stock

 So that was the election in Wales and the Parties  will be taking stock.


Labour.
With gain of 4 seats and tantalizingly close to overall control of the Assembly  reson to celebrate but must be disappointed not to take  aTory seats. 30 seats mean they could possibly govern without looking for partners but as Miserable Old Fart points out there is a problem with of who is going to be Presiding Officer or rather Llywedd but I can only see Dafydd El taking up this position if the Lab/Plaid coalition is renewed and I doubt that the latter has the appetite for that.So Labour face sacrificing one of their precious number and be reliant perhaps on the LibDems to see them through the next five years.

Conservatives.
Will be delighted to have replaced Plaid as the main opposition and there may have been some quite smiles when their leader Nick Bourne lost his seat. Will they go for a positive devolutionist  like David Melding  or will they look somewhere else. The problem is that none of their AM's have really entered the public mind and as the cuts start to impact in Wales they will not be able to avoid the inevitable backlash from the Welsh electorate.

Liberal Democrats.
Must be counting their luck to only  have lost 1 seat overhaul despite a hemorrhage of votes in parts of Wales. With only 1 constituency seat and only Ceredigion and Montgomery looking possible gains next time they will be looking on how to disassociate themselves from the almost toxic connection to the Con/Lib coalition in Westminster. From last nights news it looks that that La Pasionaria will  be willing to enter into some form of coalition with Labour; But she has very few cards to play However  you can be assured if she carries it off then she and her colleagues will be claiming major concessions in policy even if the rest of us can't see them.

Plaid,
Bad night The loss of  4 seats and some of their most talented AM's  will be a body blow. The position of the leader Ieauan Wyn Jones looks shaky but. Plaid problem is the Pri(n)ce over the water. Clearly Adam Price is the favorite to lead the Party but he is not elected anywhere and barring a By-election in a seat like Neath then he  it will be 5 years before he can lead the party in the Assembly. A caretaker leader would be possible but who?  Elin Jones perhaps but surely  the big beast amongst Plaid AM's is Dafydd Elis Thomas who if he's not going to be Llywedd then he would be unlikely to want to remain out of the limelight . Perhaps Plaid's answer would be to elect Adam as leader and present him as the leader in waiting whilst DET leads the Party in the Assembly.

Others.
 Both UKIP  and the Greens were hoping to pick up a seat  but fell short.The BNP did miserably and they have ceased to be a threat in Wales which at least all the other political parties can take some comfort..