Bethan Jenkins AC/AM Blog

Its nearly time for the ballot boxes to be closed and secured ready for their trip to the local count, and all the candidates are rushing around last minute, and preparing for the evening’s excitement ( well apart from North Wales, where they are counting tomorrow)

People have said that this election hasn’t been that exciting. Well, they have a point in that on a National level it hasn’t been the most exciting election in the World, but that’s partly to do with the fact that the Welsh media is quite weak, and that yet again, the London press has largely decided to ignore the ins and outs of our General Election to concentrate on the AV referendum instead.

Without the major cash injections that US political parties receive, there’s not a chance that political parties here can dream of having the same wall to wall coverage that, for example, the Republicans and Democrats enjoy during mid term and Presidential elections. They fight for votes on the screens, as well as doing the usual door knocking.

There has been use of the media during this election in terms of online videos and websites/ blogs of course, but it all means that individual citizens have to be pro active in writing those blogs, and updating those websites, and the same level of discussion hasn’t taken place online as happened in 2007, that’s for certain. I don’t think this is anyone’s fault, but many candidates like myself have been concentrating on speaking to people via Facebook and canvassing people online as we would do on the street or on a doorstep. Independent analysis has been effective by the likes of Adrian Masters of ITV Wales and on the website Waleshome.

However, this election has been fought on quite a local basis, and this may be one reason why, on a National level, it doesn’t appear so exciting to those who are monitoring things from the Cardiff Bay media bubble. Yes, some journalists have come to speak to us, but nobody has joined us in this area on the campaign trail to see what people are actually saying, and what their priorities are. I do like the idea of the BBC’s People’s Assembly-  ’real’ people who come together to discuss their views, who share their views on the various political shows. Its interesting to see how their opinions have varied as the weeks of campaigning have progressed. I have watched the Leader’s debates on both channels and have enjoyed them. People are quick to criticise, but I watched the Scottish debate, and Salmond was the only leader with anything of worth to say!

I wish all the Plaid candidates all the best of luck. Clearly I’m hoping for the best result for Plaid, for us to win more seats and to challenge the Labour party who time after time, take people in this area for granted. One Labour candidate was so arrogant that he even told a hall full of people that he wasn’t going to bother answering a questionnaire from a campaign group. Says it all really.

At this point, I’m looking forward to taking part in the ITV Wales Decides programme which is on at 10.30pm this evening. I’m then going to pop over to the Neath count to see how Alun Llewelyn is fairing, and then to Bridgend for my own result. Pob lwc Plaid!