Labour hopeful of overall majority in Wales

Labour won half the seats in the Welsh Assembly today - raising the possibility of a majority government.

Labour took 30 of the 60 seats, which could be enough to give the party a slim majority if an opposition Assembly member becomes presiding officer, the equivalent of House of Commons speaker.

The party could opt to renew its coalition with the Liberal Democrats to give it greater stability. But Welsh Labour leader Rhodri Morgan will come under intense pressure from his party to go it alone.

It was a disappointing night for Plaid Cymru. The party remains the official opposition, but saw its vote fall significantly from its high water mark in 1999.

The Welsh nationalists won 12 seats - five fewer than last time round.

The Conservatives took 11 seats two more than in 1999. And the Liberal Democrats won six - the same as in the last Assembly.

One seat went to an independent candidate, former Labour assembly member John Marek.

But the turn-out will concern all parties. At 38.16%, after all 40 constituencies were counted, it was down 8.12% on 1999. That is well below the 59.4% turn-out at the 2001 General Election, the lowest since the war.

Welsh Labour leader Rhodri Morgan said he was very pleased with the result.

He said: "I am delighted with my party's performance. Although we have not technically won an outright majority, we are now in a position to lead the Assembly even more effectively than before.

"This result indicates the level of trust which the people of Wales have in Labour."

Welsh Secretary Peter Hain added: "It is a fantastic result for Labour. This is a terrible night for the nationalists. Their fantasy of an independent Wales has been buried forever and they are barely neck and neck with the Tories.

"We won three-quarters of the constituency seats, which by normal General Election standards would be a landslide. This is the best result for Labour in the elections anywhere in Britain."

Plaid is considering challenging the results in a number of seats over claims that election leaflets were not delivered.

A party spokeswoman said Conwy was top of its list because of the narrow margin of Labour's victory. But it is also looking at other seats across Wales.

Plaid has rallied round leader Ieuan Wyn Jones despite the party's disappointing performance.

Former Presiding Officer Lord Dafydd Elis Thomas, who held Merionnydd Nant Conwy, said: "It would be completely wrong for our problems to be personalised in any way.

"We have suffered swings against us to New Labour in the south and to the Tories in the north. All of us in the party now need to look at this situation very carefully, learn from it, and move forward."

The key to Labour's victory was winning the heartland seats Plaid Cymru won in 1999, then depriving Labour of outright victory.

Labour took Islwyn, Rhondda and Llanelli from Plaid and won other seats with significant swings.

One of the more colourful new Ams is fuel protest leader Brynle Williams. He shot to national attention when he led the blockade of the Stanlow oil refinery in 2000. He is now a Conservative AM.

Tamsin Dunwoody-Kneafsey, the daughter of outspoken Labour MP Gwyneth Dunwoody, joins Labour's Assembly team.

The Liberal Democrat leader in the Assembly, Michael German, indicated he would be willing to renew the coalition with Labour.

"The ball is firmly in Rhodri Morgan's court and I am not going out trying to influence that decision," he told BBC Wales.

"The only question that matters is one of stability."

*After all 40 constituency results in the Wales election, the turnout is: 850,405 (38.16%, -8.12%). After four PR constituency results out of five in the Wales election, the turnout is: 665,354 (36.57%, -7.76%).