{"id":572619,"date":"2026-05-08T08:38:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:38:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/572619\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T08:38:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T08:38:10","slug":"wales-election-2026-counting-begins-as-labour-expected-to-lose-senedd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/572619\/","title":{"rendered":"Wales election 2026: Counting begins as Labour expected to lose Senedd"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Snacks and coffee ready &#8211; long day ahead in Llanellipublished at 09:36 BST<\/p>\n<p>09:36 BST<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-qs9kpv-Contributor etflsgg2\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/c1d9d63c-46d0-45b4-80f5-43d9992560c0.jpg.webp.webp\" width=\"64\" height=\"64\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/>Meleri Williams<br \/>BBC Wales reporter<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">It\u2019s getting busy at the Sir Gaerfyrddin count in Llanelli. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Candidates have started to gather in the sports hall of Pentre Awel Leisure Centre, wearing their party rosettes, and eagerly waiting for the votes to be verified within the next few minutes.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">We could get a real mixed bag here. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">This new super constituency encompasses the whole of Carmarthenshire, stretching between towns like Llanelli, Carmarthen, Llandovery and Ammanford, and vast rural areas. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Carmarthen is considered a Plaid Cymru heartland, so this constituency is crucial for the party. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">But now that Llanelli is included in the same constituency, it may not be such an easy target for Plaid. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Labour has dominated in that area for decades, but in the 2024 General Election, Reform saw its best result across Wales in Llanelli.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">With a new, more proportional voting system, Reform will be looking to challenge the Plaid and Labour dominance in the area. <\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">The result declaration could be one of the last of all the constituencies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"ssrcss-1q0x1qg-Paragraph e1jhz7w10\">Snacks and coffee are at the ready!   <\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Large hall with people seated at desks and papers\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/ichef.bbci.co.uk\/ace\/standard\/640\/cpsprodpb\/vivo\/live\/images\/2026\/5\/8\/84ce3598-3897-44ed-91e6-194454864030.jpg.webp\"  width=\"4032\" height=\"3024\" class=\"ssrcss-egie1y-Image edrdn950\"\/><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Snacks and coffee ready &#8211; long day ahead in Llanellipublished at 09:36 BST 09:36 BST Meleri WilliamsBBC Wales&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":572567,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-572619","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572619","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=572619"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/572619\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/572567"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=572619"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=572619"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=572619"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}