‹ 1968  1978 ›
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| Etholiad Tŷ Isod / Cynulliad 1973 | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| All 173 seats to the Cynulliad (Ty Isod y Senedd) | ||||||
| 8th November 1973 | ||||||
| Turnout | 100% | |||||
| First party | Second party | Third party | ||||
| Leader | Gethin ab Harri Griffiths | Harri Protheroe | Madyn ap Seisyll | |||
| Party | Plaid Gomiwnyddol | Plaid Gwerinwr Cymdeithasol | Plaid Gwerinwr Cristnogol | |||
| Last election | 41 Seats (30.1%) | 93 Seats (45.9%) | 22 Seats (13.4%) | |||
| Seats won | 83 | 39 | 28 | |||
| Seat change | +42 | -54 | +6 | |||
| Popular vote | 2,144,097 | 1,021,971 | 986,782 | |||
| Percentage | 43.8% | 20.9% | 20.2% | |||
| Fourth party | Fifth party | |||||
| Leader | Ednyfed Gof | Dafydd Mal | ||||
| Party | Plaid Gatholig | Plaid Sosialaidd | ||||
| Last election | 10 Seats (6.3%) | 7 Seats (4.2%) | ||||
| Seats won | 14 | 9 | ||||
| Seat change | +4 | +2 | ||||
| Popular vote | 415,095 | 282,157 | ||||
| Percentage | 8.5% | 5.8% | ||||
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P Comiwnyddol: 83 seats Plaid Sosialaidd: 9 seats PG Cymdeithasol: 39 seats PG Cristnogol: 28 seats Plaid Catholig: 14 seats
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The 1968 Election - SDP Government 1968-73[]
The 1968 election saw the collapse of the Plaid Gwerinwr Cristnogol (Christian Democratic Party). Since the 1952 election the PGCr had led Cymru with American support. The Welsh public however had grown tired throughout the 1960’s of the incompetence of the PGCr ministers, the corruption throughout the government and of American influence in general. The result was a landslide win for Harri Protheroe and his Plaid Gwerinwr Cymdeithasol(PGCy) and also for the Plaid Comiwnyddol / The Communist Party (PCom).
Protheroe held a majority in the Cynulliad of 6 seats (93) against a combined opposition of 80. However, within the PGCy ranks were many AC’s who held views that sympathised with the Communists. During the early parts of his canghelliant (chancellorship) he was able to hold the whip over his AC’s, but as his government’s term drew on, he began to lose control over several AC’s who began to regulaly vote on PCom lines.
Gethin ab Harri Griffiths (leader of Plaid Comiwnyddol) forced an early vote in the Senedd over the Royal Prerogatives. Between the two left wing parties Griffiths was able to secure a majority for the "Reduction of the Crown's Prerogatives Act". This Act went before the Upper House where it was rejected, but Griffiths forced it back to the upper chamber, this time with a warning over the superiority of the powers of the Lower House. On its second visit, the Act passed the Upper House and was presented to Arthur for Royal Consent. This was something that Arthur wanted to reject. His advisors though reminded him of the increasing popularity of the Communist Party again within the Welsh electorate, and reluctantly, Arthur gave his assent to the act. With this first victory under his belt, Griffiths, then pushed through a parliamentary bill reducing the numbers of American troops sanctioned to be based on Welsh soil and then in late 1969 pushed through the Decolonisation Act, starting the process by which the remaining Welsh colonies would be granted their independence from Wales. This early, aggressive leadership from Griffiths helped to attract several of the more left wing leaning PGCy AC’s towards his orbit.
By 1973, Gethin ab Harri Griffiths (leader of Plaid Comiwnyddol) could count on 10 PGCy AC’s to vote according to the PCom whip and with the Llywydd not voting, that reduced Protheroe’s effective government benches to 82 AC’s (5 short of an overall majority). On several votes, the combined opposition voted together to vote down government motions, including the budgets in both 1971 and 1972.
By 1973, the 10 PGCy aelodau'r cynulliad were contemplating formally crossing the floor to the opposition benches and another 5 AC’s were starting to waver, their local parties all having been firmly infilrated by communist party agents. The lines in the Siambr were starting to blur, but with the right wing parties refusing to come to Protheroe’s aid, he was effectively looking at 77 to 63 breakdown. Whilst still able to outvote the Communists provided the right-wing parties either abstained or voted with the government, his grip on power was becoming more and more precarrious.
Where the PGCr had previously been tarnished by their policies so too were the PGCy now. De-colonisation and decimalisation were both generally unpopular at home, and with the economic realities of this era hitting home, his popularity tumbled.
Wales was heavily influenced by the Anglo-Scottish economy and it was also tied to the American economy. The collapse of the Gold Standard and the Bretton-Woods system in 1971 and the subsequent devaluation of the US Dollar threw the Welsh economy into chaos. The Ty Isod was paralysed in its attempts to navigate through the chaotic early 70's economic mire. The PGCy and the PGom both differed in their approach and the other parties, the PGCr and the P-Catholig offered little support to either parties to force the issue through parliament. Struggling to hold his thin majority together, Canghellor Protheroe thought that he saw the faint glimmers of hope. These faint glimmers were brought crashing down by the Yom Kippur war in 1973. This war with its oil embargo and the subsequent stock market crash resulted in the economic free fall of the Welsh economy.
In desperation, Harri Protheroe gambled with an election.
The 1973 Election[]
The 1973 election was fought against the backdrop of economic woes and simmering republican sympathies within Wales. The PGCr and the P-Catholig were struggling to get their voices heard over the left wing parties and the Socialists were squeezed out of the political picture almost entirely by the colossal fight between the centre left and far left parties.
Given the desperation of many, Griffith’s message brought hope. He promised an end to dependence on the American’s, he promised secure jobs, food on the table, more importantly, after close to five years of a government lurching from one crisis to another, he promised governmental stability. He had no problem controlling his party members!
The conservative political elite viewed the election with mounting horror. The king’s political teeth had been pulled slightly with the Gostwng Deddf uchelfraint y Goron(Reduction of the Crown's Prerogative Act) which was passed in 1968, but the royalist parties were in full retreat, the people were suffering and were looking for hope, something the conservative Christian Democrats and the Catholic Party were unable to offer in 1973.
Canghellor Protheroe took the extreme step of conveening a Cyfrin Gyngor during the election campaign, something which flew in the face of convention, since as soon as the Cynulliad was dissolved, the office of Canghellor went into abeyance. The outcome from that meeting resulted in the Teulu Brenhinol leaving Palas Cwm Hyfryd and moving into the Rhandy Brenhinol in Castell Caerdydd. The thick walls and the garrison of both the ceremonial Y Warchodlu Frenhinol and the active soldiers of the Llewod Du providing greater security. The rhandy brenhinol was situated in the ancient Norman keep of the castle and gave a vantage over central Caerdydd in addition to being safer than the more modern palace in the city suburbs.
The secret orders resulting from the Cyfrin Gyngor meeting on the 20th October 1973 also included flight orders should the Communists look to win via violent methods.
The week leading up the election saw poll after poll suggest that the communist party was riding high and looking to achieve a supermajority in the Cynulliad with some projections predicting a Communist government with over 100 seats, something not seen since the jury-rigged elections of the early 1950’s.
Election Night - 8th November 1973[]
In the last week of the election, Protheroe’s campaign improved. Leaked intelligence accused Griffiths of being firmly under Moscow control and not the independent actor he always portrayed himself as and in the end, the feared rise of the communist party stuttered at the final hurdle. The election night itself still saw a night of political frights and shocks as the Communist Party returned to power, with Protheroe himself losing his seat and the Communists dominating both the First Past the Post (FPTP) seats as well as the PR votes.
Election night also saw the king and his closest advisors frantically pacing the floor of the royal apartment, the king on the phone to various generals and politicians. At midnight, with the first raft of results coming in, the royal flight Sikorsky SH-3 helicopter landed in the grounds of the castell. The queen and royal children boarded and were flown to the naval docks at Aberdaugleddau, where the aircraft carrier Hydd Gwyn was docked. Tu ol-Llyngesydd Hywel Paledrydd (Rear Admiral Paledrydd) was given sealed orders by the accompanying officers from Gwasanaeth Diogelwch (Secret Service) to steam for Naval Station Norfolk with as many ships as would obey his orders if the communist party attempted a full communist revolution. The king himself remained in Caerdydd, determined to do everything he could to prevent a communist victory.
However, although returned as the largest party it was short of a majority, needing help from the PGCy to form a government. Griffiths was able to dominate the PGCy with the absence of Protheroe, but enough of their AC’s displayed enough of an independent streak to ensure he was always unsure of votes.
Results[]
| Party | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Plaid Comiwnyddol | 2,144,097 | 43.8 | 83 | +42 | |
| Plaid Gwerinwr Cymdeithsol | 1,021,971 | 20.9 | 39 | -54 | |
| Plaid Gwerinwr Cristnogol | 986,782 | 20.2 | 28 | +6 | |
| Plaid Catholig | 415,095 | 8.5 | 14 | +4 | |
| Plaid Sosialaidd | 282,157 | 5.8 | 9 | +2 | |
| Total | 4,850,103 | 100 | 173 | ||
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