Closed Lists & D’Hondt: How are seats allocated?

On 7 May 2026, voters in Wales will elect 96 new Senedd Members using the Closed List electoral system. This voting system was introduced by the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024 (the 2024 Act).

This article explains how the Closed List system works. A separate guest article on the new system sets out some of the trade-offs required in choosing electoral systems, particularly between proportionality of parliaments and the accountability of governments.

How to vote under Closed List

Under a Closed List system, political parties rank their candidates for each constituency. Parties can list up to eight candidates per constituency. These candidates will appear in order on the ballot paper. Independent candidates (those not standing for a political party) can also stand, and will effectively operate as a list of one.

Voters will have one vote – either for a political party or an independent candidate. The Senedd has produced an example ballot paper to demonstrate what voters can expect when they reach the polling station.

There are 16 constituencies at this Senedd election. Each of these 16 constituencies will return six Members of the Senedd, with 96 Members elected in total.

The system is known as ‘Closed’ List because political parties decide the order of the candidates on their list. Voters will be able to see the order of candidates for each political party, but will not be able select a specific candidate standing for a party on the list. Instead party candidates will be elected in the order they are placed on the list. For example, if a political party wins three seats in a constituency, the first three candidates on that party’s list would be elected.

The Electoral Commission has a produced a video explainer on the Closed List system.

The votes have been counted – now what?

Polling station staff will begin counting votes in the morning of 8 May, the day after the election. They are required to start counting between 9am and 11am.

Once all votes have been counted, the D’Hondt formula will be used to calculate how many seats each party has won. Under D’Hondt, seats are calculated using the following formula:

In this scenario, Party A wins the first seat, having secured the most votes. For the second seat, Party A’s votes (3300) are now divided by two (one seat won + 1), therefore Party C has the new highest total (2700, compared to Party A’s 1650), and it wins the second seat.

Continuing to apply the formula means that the first two candidates on the lists of Parties A and C would be elected. Party B would have one candidate from the top of its list elected. Independent candidate A would also be elected.

There’s no legal minimum percentage of votes a party or independent candidate must receive to win a seat, however academics, such as the Wales Governance Centre’s Dr Jac Larner, have estimated that its likely a party or independent candidate would need to secure around 12% of the vote in a constituency to win a seat.

Here to stay?

The Closed List system might be reviewed following the election.

The legislation that introduced the voting system requires the new Llywydd elected after May’s election to table a motion proposing that the Senedd establish a committee to review the operation and effect of Parts 1 and 2 of the 2024 Act, including the electoral system. If the Senedd agrees to the motion to establish the committee, it would have to report within 12 months of the first meeting of the new Senedd.

Any future change of the electoral system would need to be done through primary legislation, which would require the support of two-thirds of Senedd Members.

For more information on the upcoming election, including how to register to vote ahead of the upcoming 20 April deadline, see our Etholiad resources page.

Article by Adam Cooke, Senedd Research, Welsh Parliament