Voters in Caerphilly County Borough are set to go to the polls to choose who will represent them and their communities in Westminster.
The General Election, which will take place on Thursday, December 12, will be the third time in the last five years voters have hit polling booths tasked with choosing who they want to serve as their MP.
This election was meant to be held in 2022, but was brought forward after parliament approved Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s plans to hold an election “to get Brexit done”.
But while Brexit continues to dominate the news, topics such as the National Health Service have been heavily debated over the past few weeks.
In the Caerphilly constituency, Labour candidate Wayne David, who has served as an MP for 18 years, will seek re-election, with Jane Pratt of the Conservatives, Brexit Party MEP Nathan Gill and Plaid Cyrmu councillor Lindsay Whittle also standing for election.
The Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have both stepped aside in the Caerphilly constituency in favour of Plaid Cymru.
The three parties have forged an electoral pact across the country, which they’ve dubbed the ‘Remain Alliance’.
However, there is no such pact in Islwyn, where Catherine Linstrum of the Green Party and Jo Watkins of the Liberal Democrats are both standing, as is Plaid Cymru’s Zoe Hammond, who currently serves as a councillor on Blackwood Town Council.
Also standing in Islwyn is Brexit Party MEP James Wells, who was elected to the European Parliament in this year’s European elections, and Gavin Chambers, who is standing for the Conservatives.
Labour’s Chris Evans, who has been MP for Islwyn since 2010, is seeking re-election.
Elsewhere in the borough, Labour’s Gerald Jones is hoping to be elected as MP for Merthyr Tydfil and Rhymney – a position he has held since 2015.
Challenging Mr Jones for the seat are Conservative Sara Jones, Brexit Party candidate Colin Jones, Plaid Cymru’s Mark Evans and Brendan D’Cruz, who is standing for the Liberal Democrats.
Independent candidate David Hughes is also hoping to be elected to represent the constituency in the House of Commons.
However, the Green Party are not fielding a candidate in the constituency.
There are 134,009 registered voters across Caerphilly County Borough, with 5,167 residents having registered to vote since November 1.
It is anticipated that around 20% of votes will have already been cast as postal votes. This accounts for around 87,000 people across Gwent.