Face to face canvassing can resume in Senedd election as long as candidates wear zorb balls

The Welsh Government have said that face-to-face canvassing can resume in the Senedd elections as long as the candidates wear zorb balls to stop the spread of Covid-19.

The rules had previously only allowed candidates to deliver flyers and to do so while masked to keep cases low during the pandemic.

However, a change to the Coronavirus Regulations (Wales) 2021 now allow candidates to campaign as long as they wear the plastic, airtight balls.

The zorb balls will be provided by the Welsh Government free of charge, they said. They would also be available to any voters who want to wear them to polling stations.

“We had hoped to allow face to face campaigning sooner but unfortunately the supply of zorb balls were delayed,” a Welsh Government spokesperson said.

“They were on board the Ever Given boat that got stuck in the Suez Canal so they arrived a week later than hoped. However, with five weeks of campaigning left hopefully candidates can start knocking on doors now.

“It’s April 1 today so that gives them a good 36 days – more than enough time – to reach all the voters in their constituency.”

Opposition

The Conservative candidate in the Vale of Llidiart constituency, Gareth Mansfield, said that he did not mind having to wear the zorb ball and was happy to get on with campaigning.

“We need to get this election campaign rolling,” he said, “and show that we have the balls to stand up to Labour.

“Some of the politicians haven’t been challenged in a long time and seem to think that they can walk on water and we’re going to show that that isn’t the case.

“We had a difficult election in 2016 but we’re ready to bounce back. Meanwhile, the air is already going out of Labour’s campaign.”