Plaid Cymru is casting the net as wide as possible to attract prospective candidates for the next Westminster election in Ceredigion.
This will be the first time ever that any political party has opened up the political selection process in Ceredigion. It will also be a first for Plaid Cymru on a national level.
Rob Phillips, Chair of the Plaid Cymru constituency committee in Ceredigion, explains:
"We are encouraging anybody who supports Plaid Cymru to consider whether they would like to put their name forward to become the party’s Ceredigion candidate for the forthcoming Westminster election. We invite anyone who believes that they could be a champion for Ceredigion and Plaid Cymru to come forward and express an interest in this exciting role.
"Groups such as business people, women, ethnic minorities, farmers, and young people are traditionally under-represented in the political world. I would encourage people from all backgrounds to consider themselves as potential candidates for Plaid Cymru.
"Plaid Cymru believes that the internal candidate selection processes used by political parties need to be opened up to the wider public. Over the past year, we have seen Plaid Cymru’s membership increase by over 33 per cent here in Ceredigion. We therefore want to capitalise on this enthusiasm as we look to select our Westminster candidate".
Leanne Wood, Plaid's Leader, said tonight in the annual lecture of the Institute of Welsh Politics in Aberystwyth:
"Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales intends to open up our candidate selection policy to inspire people from all walks of life to put their names forward to stand and serve our country. I will be setting a goal for our party to have a million conversations between now and May 5th 2016 (the next Welsh Government elections). We have plans to create a ‘wiki-manifesto’ by crowd-sourcing ideas from people throughout Wales in order to transform the country and overcome voter apathy."
Anybody with an interest in putting their name forward to be Plaid Cymru’s Westminster candidate for Ceredigion should contact the Aberystwyth Plaid Cymru Office on 01970 617 492.