Reflecting on a decade as Electoral Commissioner for Wales

Dame Elan Closs Stephens DBE – Electoral Commissioner for Wales 

It is April 18th 2017, and I am travelling from Aberystwyth to Euston and then to the Electoral Commission Office in London for my first Board meeting.

My Royal Warrant had been duly signed in the Privy Council, and I was officially the Electoral Commissioner for Wales. On the 4th of May there would be Local Government Elections taking place across Wales.

Many Commissioners, I was told, could wait two or three years in office for an election event; I had less than three weeks to go. Still on the train, I looked at my phone.

Unbelievably, the Prime Minister Teresa May had called a snap General Election to be held on June 8th – a decision taken (so we are told) after she had been walking in the hills above Dolgellau.

Looking back almost a decade later, through some of the most turbulent political times, I can now count Senedd Elections, Local Elections, General Elections, Police and Crime Commissioner Elections, an absurd European Election where there could be no long-term Members, by elections, recall elections and High Court Challenges on the decisions of the Electoral Commission.

It has truly been one of the most challenging and exhilarating times to be a Commissioner.

Since 2017, a series of legislative reforms have reshaped Wales’s electoral system and the work of the Commission in Wales.

The Wales Act 2017 first devolved responsibility for Senedd and local government elections to Wales. The Senedd and Elections (Wales) Act 2020 then extended the franchise for devolved elections to 16- and 17-year-olds and qualifying foreign nationals.

This legislation also supported the work of the Commission in Wales by making the Commission financially accountable for its work on devolved elections to the Senedd through the cross party Llywydd’s Committee of the Senedd. More recently, the Elections and Elected Bodies (Wales) Act 2024 introduced automatic registration pilots and conferred Electoral Management Board functions on the Democracy and Boundary Commission Cymru.

Finally, as we saw earlier this year, the Senedd Cymru (Members and Elections) Act 2024 increased the size of the Senedd, introduced a new proportional voting system for Senedd elections and reformed Senedd constituencies.

On the wider canvass of the UK Commission Board, we have seen an ugly picture of disinformation, misogyny, hate, and, incredibly, the killings of sitting and retired MPs.

The Commission’s work in trying to counteract these threats has grown exponentially over the decade and is vital to the preservation of trust in our democracy.

The Commission has been one of the very few UK public bodies that has had a substantial increase in its finances from the UK Government to look at mis and disinformation, candidate abuse and misogyny, deep fake AI and to strengthen its own cyber security which it has done.

We are working with the police, Ofcom, political parties and major social media companies, to tackle these issues collectively.

Who knows how many potential Councillors, MPs and MSs we are losing because people don’t want to put their name forward as candidates for fear of what happens to them and their families.

As I walked recently through the old cemetery of Bunhill Row (where Bunyan and Blake are buried) to the Commission Offices in London, I reflected on a decade of change. I reflected on the friendships made around the Board table and in the Cardiff Office.

I also reflected on the ambition around the Board table for maintaining trust in a secure inclusive democratic process. It has been an honour to be a small part of the endeavour.

Dame Elan is to step down as Electoral Commissioner for Wales at the end of her current term in March 2027.

The Electoral Commission has begun recruiting her successor.

Further information about role, including details of how to apply, is available on the Goodson Thomas website. Applications close at 5pm on Friday 30 October.

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