Article by Alys Thomas, National Assembly Research Service
The UK General Election takes place on Thursday 7 May 2015. The infographic below gives some key facts and figures about Wales. [caption id="attachment_3692" align="alignnone" width="682"] Infographic by David Millett, Research Service[/caption] Eight long standing MPs are standing down so even if no seats change hands between the parties, there will be new faces representing Welsh seats in Parliament. Three Assembly Members (AMs) are standing for parliamentary seats. If they are elected to Westminster, they could remain as AMs until the next Assembly election in May 2016. However, they would not be able to continue beyond that date as holding a dual mandate has been forbidden under the Wales Act 2014. The 12 month period of grace is to prevent the need for a by-election in close proximity to an Assembly election. The three AMs in question were elected via the regional list so it is possible that, if elected, they could resign immediately as AMs and be replaced by the next person on the party list.