There are 60 seats in the Welsh Assembly, 40 being elected by the 'first past the post' system and 20 being elected by proportional representation.

The 40 Assembly members are directly elected from the 40 Parliamentary constituencies. These constituencies are the same as those used for Westminster elections. Voters select the candidate of their choice, the winner being the candidate with the highest number of votes. They then have a second vote for the party of their choice. This second vote determines the other 20 Assembly members.

For electoral purposes, Wales has been divided into five sub-regions. These are North Wales, Mid and West Wales, South Wales West, South Wales Central and South Wales East. Each region returns four Assembly Members chosen from party lists. Each party submits a list of candidates for each region prior to the election. Each party's percentage of the second vote determines the number of seats gained. Candidates may stand in a constituency or on a regional party list but not both.

The 20 members are elected according to this formula:

• The second votes cast for each party in each region are divided by the number of constituencies won by that party in that region, plus one.
• The first seat is allocated to the party with the highest score in this calculation.
• The other three seats are allocated in the same way, but regional seats already gained are included in the calculation.
• Seats are allocated to the candidates in the order that they appear on their party's list.

Example.

In a sub-region consisting of 8 constituencies, the results were as follows.

Second Round.
The votes for Party A are divided by 4 to give 12,296
The votes for Party B are divided by 3 to give 11,546
The votes for Party C are divided by 3 to give 8,308
The votes for Party D are divided by 2 to give 10,231
The votes for Party E are divided by 2 to give 6,447

Therefore as Party A has the highest score, they win the second top-up seat.

Third Round.
The votes for Party A are divided by 5 to give 9,837
The votes for Party B are divided by 3 to give 11,546
The votes for Party C are divided by 3 to give 8,308
The votes for Party D are divided by 2 to give 10,231
The votes for Party E are divided by 2 to give 6,447

Therefore as Party B has the highest score, they win the third top-up seat.

Fourth Round.
The votes for Party A are divided by 5 to give 9,837
The votes for Party B are divided by 4 to give 8,659
The votes for Party C are divided by 3 to give 8,308
The votes for Party D are divided by 2 to give 10,231
The votes for Party E are divided by 2 to give 6,447

Therefore as Party D has the highest score, they win the fourth top-up seat.

The final result would be:-