Welsh leaders make final push in crucial Senedd election
ReutersMost of Wales' six big parties have made last minute pitches to voters across Wales as they wrapped up campaigning for Thursday's crucial Senedd election.
Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth said only his party can stop Nigel Farage's Reform from coming first, while Labour's Eluned Morgan urged voters not to see the Senedd election as a "protest vote".
She declined an opportunity to back the prime minister Sir Keir Starmer in an interview with the BBC, refusing to speculate on his future if Labour loses Wales.
Polling stations will open at 07:00 BST, and close at 22:00. Counting will take place during the day on Friday, with full coverage on BBC Wales TV, radio and online.
The leaders of the Welsh Conservatives and Welsh Lib Dems also campaigned on Wednesday, while the UK Green leader Zack Polanski visited Cardiff.
Reform's UK leader Nigel Farage held his final rally in Wales on Tuesday.
Thursday's vote is one of the most important elections in Wales for decades, with Labour faces the prospect of losing for the first time since Wales' parliament was created in 1999.
Opinion polls throughout the campaign have suggested that Reform UK and Plaid Cymru are vying to become the biggest party in the Senedd.
Labour has dominated Welsh politics for a century, and has won every major domestic parliamentary election since 1922.
It has led every Welsh government since devolution in 1999, when the UK government began to give politicians in Wales powers over the health service, education, local government and a host of other policies.
First Minister Eluned Morgan kicked off the last day of campaigning by visiting an engineering firm in Pembroke Dock.
"We're living in a very unstable world, and that public services and jobs are on the line", she said.
"People in Wales should think very very carefully. It's not a protest election. This is about who runs Wales."
Asked whether Sir Keir should stay on as prime minister if Labour lose in Wales and results go as predicted elsewhere, she added: "I'm certainly not getting involved in any speculation for what happens tomorrow or the afterwards."
The Welsh Conservatives have pitched themselves as a more competent alternative to both Reform and Plaid Cymru, accusing both of not being credible or serious.
Darren Millar, Welsh Tory leader, insisted that the election is not a "two-horse race" and that the Tories could win "at least one seat in every constituency in Wales.
Speaking in Abergele, Millar said: "There cannot be change in the Senedd without the Welsh Conservatives in the mix because no party is going to get a majority."
"So if they want change in Wales, if they want low taxes and an end to government waste, and if they want to fix our public services, then they will need to vote Conservative."
Both Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth and Reform UK Wales' Dan Thomas say they represent change - and both party leaders are hoping to replace Morgan.
In Llandudno, Ap Iorwerth said Wales has a "choice of two futures" and "stands at a crossroads", claiming Plaid offered a "choice based on hope" and, referring to Reform, said the other option represented "division".
"I hope people make the positive choice based on our values, based on our vision on bringing waiting times down in the NHS, on raising standards in education, on the most generous childcare offer in the UK, on standing up for Wales."
He added: "There is a compelling tactical reason to vote for Plaid Cymru. One party has to beat Reform, only Plaid Cymru can be that party."
A Reform UK Wales event on Tuesday evening saw leader Dan Thomas and UK party leader Nigel Farage address supporters in Merthyr Tydfil.
Reform is offering to re-set Wales' politics completely. If they come first it could mark the best performance a party on the right has ever had in a Welsh vote, outside of European election.
Farage said Wales has been a "basket case" under Labour and alleged the country would not change under Plaid Cymru.
Meanwhile the Welsh Liberal Democrats have tried to find a niche with voters opposing Labour but also opposed to independence.
Campaigning in Llandrindod Wells, Welsh leader Jane Dodds told BBC Wales she hoped she was not the only Lib Dem returned in Thursday's vote.
She has represented the party alone in the Senedd since she was elected in 2021
"I'm a positive, optimistic person, and we're looking forward to getting more seats not just... in mid Wales but in our urban areas as well, making sure that we really do represent the people of Wales from all over Wales.
"I'm hoping it won't just be me next time."
The Greens are hoping to enter the Welsh political scene seriously for the first time - hoping too that they can return around five Senedd members. Their UK leader Zack Polanski held a final rally in a church in Cardiff.
He declined to speak to the BBC as he arrived, but told the audience of around 150 in the hall that the party had an "opportunity to make history in Wales".
Labour had "not treated Wales seriously" since devolution, he said, and the Greens would make sure people's "voices were heard".
Taking to the stage, their leader in Wales Anthony Slaughter said that "this is our moment".
"This victory in the Senedd elections will be the start of something bigger," he said.
Getty ImagesA new voting system will elect a total of 96 Members of the Senedd (MSs) after Thursday's vote.
Across Wales' 16 constituencies, six politicians will be elected to represent each, split roughly according to the proportion of votes parties get.
No party is expected to win a majority, and whoever comes first will likely need to work with other politicians to form a government or at least to help pass laws in the Senedd.
A full list of candidates in each of the 16 seats can be found here.
Additional reporting by Iolo Cheung
