VOTERS wanted Plaid Cymru’s outgoing leader Ieuan Wyn Jones to remain as head of the party, according to the results of a new YouGov survey released today.
A significant majority of voters who expressed a preference said they wanted Mr Jones – who on Friday afternoon announced he intends to stand down as party leader – to stay at the top.
A total of 39% of those surveyed on both the day before, and the day of, his announcement said Mr Jones should continue in the role, compared to 21% who wanted him to vacate the post. The remaining 40% of people surveyed were undecided.
The results come three days after Mr Jones announced his intention to step down in the first half of the Assembly’s five-year term.
Ceredigion Assembly Member Elin Jones, newly-elected AMs Llyr Huws Gruffydd and Simon Thomas, and South Wales East’s Jocelyn Davies have all been mooted as potential runners.
Political experts last night said it was unrealistic for Mr Jones to think he could remain leader of the party for another two and a half years.
Denis Balsom, editor of the Wales Yearbook, said the Plaid leader should step aside in time for the party’s autumn conference.
He said: “The difficulty is that Ieuan Wyn Jones has clearly said he’s going to stand down. To say it is going to happen has effectively made him a lame-duck leader.
“The party is going to be effectively neutered by having a leader that has already declared himself redundant.” The YouGov figures were compiled on Thursday and Friday on behalf of S4C’s Welsh-language current affairs programme Hacio.
A total of 1,115 adults were asked through an online survey whether they wanted the leaders of Plaid, the Welsh Lib Dems and Labour to stand aside or remain in control of their parties.
The figures have been weighted and are representative of all Welsh adults aged 18 and over.
A total of 38% said Kirsty Williams should continue as leader of the Welsh Liberal Democrats, compared with 19% calling for her resignation, and the remainder undecided.
And the Welsh Labour Party’s Carwyn Jones received a resounding 66% endorsement of his leadership, with 9% against.
The positive response to Plaid’s Ieuan Wyn Jones comes despite a poor Assembly election result for the party, in which they lost two seats.
Plaid is to review what went wrong in the election and Mr Jones will stand down at some point before the next election in 2016.
But having declared his intention to leave as leader, Institute of Welsh Affairs director John Osmond warned it would be “unrealistic” for Ieuan Wyn Jones to stay for a prolonged period of time.
Ms Osmond said the party must elect a new leader if it wants a shot at forming a coalition with Labour later in the Assembly’s new term.
“I think Plaid needs to come to a decision within a matter of months rather than years,” he said.
“If Plaid is to allow itself to enter a period of navel gazing for two and a half years, it will be declaring to the Welsh electorate that it is not serious about being a party in government.
“It needs to come to terms with whether it intends to be a party of government. If it were to spend two and a half years looking in at itself rather than outward, then it’s saying it doesn’t want to be a party of government.”
Mr Balsom also said Mr Jones’s suggestion that he might carry on as leader for another two-and-a-half years was unrealistic.
“Plaid Cymru has to be in a position to go into government. It can’t do that if it hasn’t got a new leader in place.
“I am not sure that this is the time for a really fundamental roots and branches look at itself. It can’t hang around for a couple of years deciding what its philosophy is.”
But several Plaid Cymru members have been more supportive of focusing on a fundamental review of the party before launching into a leadership contest.
Plaid AM for Carmarthen East and Dinefwr Rhodri Glyn Thomas said: “I don’t think we need to be rushed into that leadership election. We need to take time to reflect on what has happened. I think the first thing we need to sort out is where we are as a party, and the election of a leader is secondary to that in my mind.”
Former Plaid Cymru MP for Ceredigion and former AM Cynog Dafis supported Mr Jones’ timeframe for departure.
“I think that what he’s doing is the correct and responsible thing. It is typical of him in that he is doing what he thinks is best for the party,” Mr Dafis said.
“I think that needs time. Plaid has achieved a lot, but we need to think about where it goes next.”
Mr Dafis dismissed Dafydd Elis-Thomas as a suitable leadership contender: “We need a younger generation to give the party a fresh image and revitalise the party in that way.”
Read More http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/wales-news/2011/05/16/poll-suggests-voters-want-ieuan-wyn-jones-to-remain-plaid-leader-91466-28699503/#ixzz1MUqQEXDt
Comment
In the opinion of this blog “We need a younger generation to give the party a fresh image and revitalise the party in that way.” Procrastination is not the best policy.
Gwilym said...
16 May 2011 03:43 
Labour voters want Ieuan to stay for obvious reasons. They fear a new energetic young leader might emerge.
Labour voters want Ieuan to stay for obvious reasons. They fear a new energetic young leader might emerge.
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