Image: Adam Price, standing for Plaid Cymru leader. Credit: Wikimedia.
Plaid Cymru’s leadership election marks the most significant moment in Welsh politics since the 2011 referendum that turned the National Assembly into a Welsh Parliament. The most important moment before that was the referendum in 1997 which created the Assembly. And before that it was the miners’ strike in 1984-85 which pointed Wales in the direction of self-government.
Compare Plaid’s election with those that are underway or have taken place within the other parties in recent months. The Welsh Liberal Democrat election went unnoticed. Can you name their new leader? UKIP’s election was just a further stage in the disintegration of that party. The Welsh Conservatives’ election came about as a result of an internal party quarrel. Welsh Labour’s election has been mainly about bringing the party within the mainstream democratic norm of allowing one member one vote.
