Owain Clatworthy was selected for sixth place on the list in Pen-y-bont Bro Morgannwg, and had been elected as a councillor in Bridgend last year.
But he announced he was leaving Reform in a post on social media, telling readers that “recent events, including poor internal decision making, a lack of discipline and serious concerns around candidate selection, have made it clear to me that Reform UK is no longer operating in a way that reflects the standards I believe the public deserve”.
He accused the party of selecting individuals “with little or no connection to the communities they seek to represent”.
Speaking to BBC Wales, Clatworthy said: “The country is in a mess and it’s easy to complain and I thought Reform were the answer.
“From day one, up until now, the way I have been treated, and members and other councillors have been treated by the leadership team, is not good.”
He alleged that the party had poorly vetted candidates – adding the picture of Edwards “really did it for me. I can’t support a party that would be happy to back something like that”.
“It sends the wrong message and it became a distraction,” he said, adding that he had not cared about his sixth place selection and had been happy to support the party.
Nigel Farage had defended Edwards over the salute photograph, claiming that he had been impersonating Basil Fawlty. Edwards quit the next day.
Under the new voting system parties are required to table lists of candidates for each of the Senedd’s 16 constituencies.
While candidates listed lower than third place are less likely to get elected, parties still need at least six candidates on each constituency list in order to be allowed to spend up to the full limit on the campaign.