By-election to Aberystwyth Town Council - The Result

Bronglais Ward
Lucy Huws (Plaid Cymru)  204 (58%)
Bryony Davies (Lib Dem)  128 (36%)
Huw Fox (Independent)  17 (4%)

Turnout 35%

The story of this election is how Plaid Cymru emerged unscathed after their main opponents poured astonishing resources into this Town Council by-election caused by the forced retirement through illness of a sitting councillor.

The Lib Dems who, like Plaid, had selected a likeable, committed candidate, saturated the area with no fewer than eleven different General Election-style leaflets during the four weeks of the campaign compared to the three produced by Plaid. To place this in perspective, even for the nationally crucial Assembly By-election in Ynys Mon this summer, Plaid produced a total of seven leaflets. 

During what remained a good-natured election at the personal level despite the ferocity of the leafletting, residents in many streets became used to receiving nightly repeat visits by senior Lib Dem politicians whilst the more modest Plaid campaign simply concentrated on the candidate talking to each household once. 

The result is given all the more credibility by the relatively high turnout for an election at this level where no polling cards were published by the Town Council in order to save money. 

The outcome is a tribute to the quality of Lucy Huws (below) as a candidate and to the resilience of the Plaid support in the ward.