Part 5 – Review of Operation of Act Etc. and General Provisions
Review of operation of Act etc.
78.This Part provides for a requirement that the Presiding Officer asks the Senedd, by way of a motion tabled, to consider a review of the operation and effect of the provisions of the 2006 Act, as amended by the Act, following the 2026 election. This Part also includes: a power to make consequential and transitional provisions, a power to set Senedd campaign expenditure limits, provisions about the Senedd procedure to apply to regulations made under section 20 or 21 of the Act, an interpretation section, transitional provisions in respect of Parts 1 and 2, and provisions about commencement and the short title of the Act.
Section 19 - Review of operation of Act etc. after 2026 general election
79.Section 19 places a duty on the Presiding Officer to table a motion proposing that the Senedd establish a committee to review the operation and effect of Part 1 (“the Senedd and Welsh Ministers”) and Part 2 (“Voting System at Senedd General Elections and Allocation of Seats”) of this Act, as well as to review the extent to which the elements of a healthy democracy are present in Wales.
80.If the Senedd agrees a motion to establish a committee to conduct such a review, it is possible that the review may consider such issues as:
the impacts of the new voting system on proportionality;
the introduction of multi-member constituencies;
the experience of using closed lists.
81.Ultimately it will be for the Senedd, in the terms of the motion it agrees (if it passes any such motion), and for the committee itself, to determine what it should consider in its review, and how that review should be conducted. In considering the impact of the new voting system, there are a range of matters and principles the committee could take into account, including the principles set down by the Expert Panel on Electoral Reform (such as proportionality, simplicity, and the extent to which the new system has delivered a Senedd that is reflective of the people of Wales).
82.It is possible that a committee established by the Senedd under section 19 may also wish to carry out an assessment of any other Senedd reform issues that it considers relevant, such as:
the awareness and understanding of devolved Welsh government and elections;
an assessment of turnout levels and an exploration of proposals for how this may be increased;
support for members and parties to undertake their Senedd roles;
the infrastructure in place to support a strong Welsh democracy,
but this will be a matter for the committee itself, subject to the terms of the motion that established it (and any other relevant motion).
83.The motion must be tabled as soon as practicable after the first meeting of the Senedd returned at a general election held after 6 April 2026, but in any event within 6 months of that meeting, and the motion must propose that the committee must complete its report within 12 months of said meeting.
84.If, in line with this section, the Senedd agrees a motion to establish such a committee, and undertake such a review, and if that committee then lays a report before the Senedd, then the Welsh Ministers are required to lay a statement before the Senedd which sets out their response to that report.
General
Section 20 - Power to make consequential, transitional etc. provision
85.Section 20 provides a power to make provision for certain purposes connected with implementing the Act. This includes a power to amend other primary and secondary legislation. Where the power is used to amend, repeal or modify primary legislation, the resulting Statutory Instrument is subject to the affirmative procedure in the Senedd (see section 22); otherwise, it is subject to the negative procedure.
Section 21 - Power to set Senedd election campaign expenditure limits in connection with section 1 and Part 2
86.In connection with the changes made by section 1 (number of Members of the Senedd and Senedd constituencies) and Part 2 (voting system at Senedd general elections and Allocation of Seats), section 21 provides the Welsh Ministers with a power to make regulations to amend paragraph 6 of Schedule 9 to the Political Parties, Elections, and Referendums Act 2000 (limits on campaign expenditure) to set the limits for campaign expenditure incurred by or on behalf of a registered party that is contesting seats in a general election to the Senedd.
87.Such limits may be set by reference to either the number of constituencies the party is contesting at a general election, or the number of candidates on a party’s candidate list(s), or both. This power includes a power to amend other primary and secondary legislation.
88.Regulations made under section 21 may only be made with the consent of the Electoral Commission and are subject to the affirmative procedure in the Senedd.
Section 22 - Regulations under this Act
89.Section 22 makes general provision about regulations made under the Act (except those made under paragraph 9 of Schedule 2; the provision relating to the making of those amendments can be found in Schedule 2 itself), including the Senedd procedures applicable to those regulations.
Section 23 - Interpretation
90.Section 23 defines certain expressions used in the Act, and indicates where in the Act the definitions of certain other expressions can be found.
Section 24 - Transitional provision relating to Parts 1 and 2
91.Section 24 makes transitional provision relating to Parts 1 and 2.
92.There is a convention that changes to electoral law should come into force at least 6 months before the date of the notice of the election at which they first apply. This is to give electoral administrators certainty as to the law governing a forthcoming election and sufficient time to prepare for it, including time to understand and give effect to changes in the law. For this reason, whilst section 25 provides for the changes made by this Act to the size of the Senedd, constituencies, the voting system and disqualification of candidates and Members, together with the related amendments to other enactments (see section 10), to come into force two months after Royal Assent, the effect of section 24 is to delay those changes from taking effect until the first general election held on or after 7 April 2026 (for these purposes, it is the date of the poll for the general election that is relevant). That date is the earliest date the Presiding Officer could, under section 4 of the 2006 Act, propose for the poll for the next scheduled ordinary general election (which, under section 3 of the 2006 Act, is scheduled for 7 May 2026). The result of section 24 is that any general election which may be held before that date, would be held under the pre-existing law i.e. the mixed member electoral system provided for in the 2006 Act. Similarly, the Act’s other changes mentioned in section 24(1) and (2) (including, for example, the changes to how vacancies arising between general elections are dealt with) will not take effect in respect of any Senedd returned as a result of a poll which is held before 7 April 2026.
93.Section 3 of the Act reduces the time between ordinary general elections to four years and section 25 provides for that change to come into force on the day after the day of the poll for the first general election held after 7 November 2025. Section 24(3) and (4) confirm that, in the case that an extraordinary general election is held after that date but before the ordinary general election scheduled for May 2026 (which would result in that ordinary general election not taking place: see section 5(5) of the 2006 Act), the next ordinary general election would be due to take place in 2030.
Section 25 - Coming into force
94.Section 25 makes provision for the coming into force of the Act as follows:
Part 3, section 17, Part 5 (other than section 20), and Schedule 2 come into force on the day after the Act receives Royal Assent.
Sections 1, 2, 6, 7, 18, 19 21, Part 2, and Schedule 3 come into force two months after the day on which the Act receives Royal Assent.
Section 3 comes into force the day after the day of a poll for the first general election held after 7 November 2025.
Sections 4 and 5 come into force the day after the day of a poll for the first general election held after 6 April 2026.
Section 26 - Short title
95.This section provides that the Act’s short title is the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024.