As we welcome Members into the Senedd ready for a new Parliament, one of the Members’ first jobs will be to elect a new Presiding Officer.
What is a Presiding Officer?
The Presiding Officer (also known as Llywydd) has the most important job in the Senedd.
The role of the Presiding Officer of the Senedd is similar to the roles of Speakers and Presiding Officers in parliaments across the world. The exact title and responsibilities of the job may vary from country to country.
The Presiding Officer chairs Plenary meetings, remaining politically impartial at all times, and also plays a role in representing the Senedd and Wales’s interests on a national, UK and international stage and chairs the Senedd Commission.
What’s the process for electing the Presiding Officer?
Let’s look at how the process works.
The Senedd's first task in its first meeting following an election is to elect a Presiding Officer. Here’s how they’ll be elected:
1. The Chair invites nominations. A nomination must be seconded by a Member who does not belong to the same political group as the Member nominating.
- In the unlikely event that no Member is likely to be validly nominated, the Chair will adjourn the meeting. When the meeting resumes, the Chair will call again for nominations.
- If there are still no candidates who have support from outside the same group then the Chair will accept nominations seconded by Members from the same political group as the nominating Member.
2. If there is only one nomination, the Chair will propose that the Member nominated be elected.
- If there are objections, a secret ballot will take place.
- If there are no objections, the Member is elected.
3. If there is more than one nomination, a secret ballot will take place.
- If two Members have been nominated, the Member who gets the greatest number of votes cast in the ballot is elected.
- If more than two Members have been nominated, any Member who gets more votes than the total for all other candidates will be elected.
- If no Member receives more votes than the total number of votes cast for all the other candidates, the candidate (or candidates) who has received the smallest number of votes is excluded. Further secret ballots are then held until one candidate gets more votes than the total number of votes cast for all the other candidates.
How is the result announced?
The Chair will announce the result to the Senedd.
The Member elected as Presiding Officer, will then take the chair for any remaining business during the meeting, including the election of a Deputy Presiding Officer, which follows the same process as the election of the Presiding Officer.
Want to Know More?
Find out more about how the secret ballot works, the election of the Presiding Officer and Deputy Presiding Officer(s), and more in our Guide to Early Plenary Business.
