Dr John Marek will return to the Welsh Assembly

History has been made in the Welsh assembly following the election of Dr John Marek as the first Independent AM to gain a seat in Cardiff Bay.

The former deputy presiding officer has retained his Wrexham ward despite leaving the Labour party following a reseletion battle.

Wrexham should have been a guaranteed seat for Labour but Dr Marek's long affiliation with the county swung in his favour.

He has represented Wrexham as an MP and AM for 20 years.

Angered party

He was replaced as the Labour candidate by his former secretary Lesley Griffiths after a series of disputes with Labour colleagues in Cardiff Bay and in his constituency.

He had also angered members of the Wales Labour Party by writing to the Communications Workers' Union suggesting they should not give the party money if they did not like its policies.

Dr Marek has based his election campaign on fighting for better public services, a properly-funded fire service and a settlement of the firefighters' pay claim.

He said he would continue to serve Wrexham to the best of his ability.

"My main duty will be to fight for Wrexham and north Wales," he said.

He added: "We need a proper rail service and we need to cut waiting list times."

Dr Marek was joined in his campaign by two supporters.

Journalist Marc Jones stood in Clwyd South - where Karen Sinclair is the Labour AM - and anti-war activist Colin Jones, from Rhyl, was on the list.

Despite the electorate in Wrexham voting against devolution in 1997, Dr Marek was returned with a comfortable majority in the 1999 Welsh assembly election.