Electoral History
The party won twelve seats on Gwynedd Council in the 2008 UK Local Elections, ending overall control of the council by Plaid Cymru. They won 7 seats in Dwyfor, 3 in Meirionnydd and 2 in Arfon. Llais Gwynedd won another seat in Blaenau Ffestiniog in June (the poll had been postponed due to the death of the Labour candidate) giving them a total of 13 seats on Gwynedd Council. They declined to form a coalition with Plaid. They tried to gain the post of chair of the children and young persons committee, but Labour councillors voted with Plaid.
Gwilym Euros Roberts, a Llais Gwynedd councillor, was due to stand against the National Assembly of Wales presiding officer Lord Dafydd Elis-Thomas in 2011 in the Welsh Assembly constituency of Dwyfor Meirionnydd. However, in July 2010 Roberts was jailed for four and a half years at Caernarfon Crown Court for wounding his wife with intent; he had stood down from his post that May.
Llais Gwynedd held the Diffwys and Maenofferen ward in the by-election on 15 July 2010. Their candidate Richard Owen Lloyd Jones won by 185 votes to 181 for Plaid.
In the National Assembly for Wales election, 2011 the party fielded Louise Hughes as their candidate in Dwyfor Meirionnydd. She received 3,225 votes or 15.5% of the vote, taking most of her support from the Plaid Cymru candidate.
However 2011 proved to be a difficult year for Llais Gwynedd: despite moderate success in the National Assembly Elections in Dwyfor Meirionnydd, Llais Gwynedd failed to produce a candidate for Arfon. They also lost the second Diffwys and Maenofferen by-election to Plaid Cymru, and failed to field candidates in other by-elections, which allowed their main rivals, Plaid Cymru, to regain their majority on Gwynedd County Council.
Furthermore, in February 2012, Councillor Chris Hughes (who beat Dafydd Iwan in the 2008 local government elections) left the Llais Gwynedd group and joined Plaid Cymru in the Council chamber, leading to further tensions within the Llais Gwynedd ranks.
As of May 2012, Llais Gwynedd has 13 councillors on Gwynedd Council and hold the balance of power in the council chamber.
Read more about this topic: Llais Gwynedd
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