Plans to ensure at least a 50/50 split of men and women on Senedd ballots has been scrapped by the Welsh government. They were initially supposed to form a large part of major Senedd reform, but after being pushed back, it’s now been cut entirely from the plans.
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00:00Senate reform plans have taken up a lot of the Welsh Government and the rest of the Welsh
00:06Parliament's focus for the last few years, and now one of the major elements of the plans
00:11has been scrapped.
00:13It was initially planned that for the 2026 Senate elections, the parties would be forced
00:18to have a 50-50 split of male and female candidates on the ballot sheet.
00:23Initially that was pushed back to 2030, but is now being dropped entirely.
00:29There have been questions over the legitimacy and legality of the plans, and whether the
00:33Welsh Government even had the power to put the initiative into place.
00:39The overall Senate reform bill will still go forward for the 2026 election, but without
00:44the gender plans in place.
00:46It will include an increase of Senate members from the current 60 up to 96, and changes
00:51the voting system somewhat to put more of a focus on the parties rather than the candidates
00:57themselves.