Another day, another election...

Well campaigning in the Pontypridd Town Council by election is well under way.  The Rhondda ward vacancy came about following the death of the sitting Labour Town Councillor in January this year. In contrast to many town / community council seats last May this one is hotly contested with a grand total of 6 candidates.

Our candidate is Amanda Jones who joined the Party earlier this year having worked closely alongside Cllr Mike Powell and myself on the campaign to save Pontypridd paddling pool.  She took the decision to join because she said we were the only ones trying to do anything positive in the area.

The Labour party are of course contesting the seat, and both the local MP and AM have been out on the streets there, with photos appearing on twitter to prove it, and presumably remind people what Slick Antoniw in particular looks like.  The photos include the person who is presumably the candidate, and two members of staff which suggests maybe that their active membership base is a little low at present.  The last time Oily and Slick and their team took to the streets in such force was in Trallwn last May to try and unseat Mike Powell – it didn’t have the desired effect.

The Tories are standing a candidate in what is previously unknown territory for them, their current vote share coming more from the western end of the constituency.  We haven’t heard reports of their activity as yet.

The Plaid candidate stood for them in the Cilfynydd County Council election last May and the Rhondda ward at Town level.  Plaid have been wiped out at County Council level in the Pontypridd constituency, and almost lost their deposit in the 2010 general election, so will be keen to make any sort of gain.

Then we have the two ‘non mainsteam’ candidates to coin a phrase, which quite frankly make me wonder about the democratic process, but I think they are deserving of their very own entries, so more later!