Labour has lost control of the Senedd for the first time in a humiliating defeat for the party, with the first minister also losing her seat in Welsh parliament.
Labour has only retained nine seats in the Senedd, with Plaid Cymru leading with 43 seats while Reform UK trails them in second place with 34 seats.
The Welsh Conservatives hold seven seats, Greens two and one Liberal Democrat.
No party has achieved the 49 seats needed to form a majority government, which means Plaid Cymru will have to form an alliance with another party.
Rhun ap Iorwerth, leader of Plaid Cymru, told a press conference that his party “stands ready to take the necessary steps to form the next Government of Wales”, having won the most seats.
In a speech following the defeat, Baroness Morgan said she was proud to have been the first woman to have held the job of Welsh first minister.
She said: “I’m very proud of what Welsh Labour has achieved over all the years we’ve led in the Senedd, but today, the pressures on public services are enormous.
“That change is clearly not coming fast enough. We’re living in turbulent times. There are challenges in all directions.”
This election marked the first time Wales used the ‘closed proportional list system’ for voting. It was implemented with the aim of more closely reflecting the number of seats a party or independent candidate wins with the percentage of votes they receive.
Here’s an overview of the results in Wales:
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Sir Keir Starmer said he is “hurt” but is “not going to walk away” after Labour lost hundreds of councillor seats, along with control of several councils, in the English local elections.
The prime minister insisted he would carry on in his post despite the losses, as he said “days like this don’t weaken my resolve to deliver the change that I promised”.
Mr Farage said the results showed a “truly historic shift in British politics” away from the old era of Labour and Conservative domination, vowing “the best is yet to come” for his party.


