THE Welsh Conservatives have announced their first four candidates for Monmouthshire and Torfaen for next year’s expanded Senedd election.
Peter Fox, who has represented Monmouthshire since the 2021 election, is the party’s top candidate for the new Sir Fynwy Torfaen constituency.
Nathan Edmunds, from Cwmbran, is an electrical design engineer, from Cwmbran, who in the 2024 general election finished third in the Torfaen constituency, won by Labour’s Nick Thomas-Symonds, with Reform UK having beaten the Conservatives to second place.
Mr Edmunds gained 5,737 votes, a 16.1 per cent share that was 17 per cent down on the party’s 2019 performance in Torfaen.
It has been created as the 32 Westminster seats in Wales have been paired to create 16 new super constituencies, for the May 2026 Senedd election, which will each elect six Members of Senedd as the Welsh Parliament expands from 60 to 96 members.
Parties have to put forward a list of candidates and the greater percentage, or share, of the vote in each constituency the party receives the more of its list will get elected.
The proportional system is intended to reflect the range of support for different parties and is likely to see candidates from a variety of parties all representing the one constituency.
Voters will only be able to vote for a party, or individual independents, and there is no opportunity for them to rank individual candidates whose placing on the list, which will determine the priority for taking seats, is determined by the political parties.
Monmouthshire council opposition leader Richard John has been ranked second on the Conservative list with his county council colleague Lisa Dymock third and Nathan Edmunds, who stood for the party in Torfaen at last year’s UK general election, in fourth place.
Parties can nominate up to eight candidates and the Conservatives are currently only selecting their top four with others to be added at a later date.
Cllr John became leader of Monmouthshire council in 2021, when Mr Fox who had held the post was elected to the Senedd, but was pushed from power when Labour became the largest party on the council, which had been the only one with a Conservative majority in Wales, at the 2022 council elections.
Cllr John, who represents the Mitchell Troy and Trellech ward, works as a political consultant for a Cardiff Bay lobbying firm.
Cllr Lisa Dymock, who represents Portskewett, was a member of the Conservative cabinet on the council before the 2022 elections and works as a project manager.
Four members of the Labour/Green Party coalition that leads Monmouthshire council have also been announced as candidates for Sir Fynwy Torfaen.
Labour’s Ben Callard, Laura Wright and Catrin Maby have been selected on its list while Ian Chandler is the Green Party candidate.