Pembrokeshire has the second highest number of uncontested county council election seats in the whole of Wales, according to research revealed by Electoral Reform Society Cymru.

Nine out of Wales’ 22 local authorities have councillors returning uncontested to their seats. Gwynedd has the highest number of uncontested seats at 28, while in Pembrokeshire 19 councillors will return to office unopposed.

This equated to nearly a third of seats that will not be contested and 19 of 60 councillors will return to their seats without canvassing for constituents’ votes.

This is an increase from the 2017 local elections where 13 seats were uncontested.

New analysis from the reform society estimates that 106,920 Welsh voters will not have a say with elections effectively cancelled across the country.

Across Wales 74 councillors will be elected unopposed, leaving residents without a say over who represents them and their local areas – making decisions on key services such as health, housing and education.

“Local elections are the cornerstone of our democracy – a chance for local people to have their say over how their local area is run and, importantly, over who represents them,” said Jess Blair, director of ERS Cymru.

“But yet again thousands of voters are being denied a voice with results decided weeks before polling day.

“Uncontested seats are yet another symptom of our broken First Past the Post system – one which creates safe seats for some candidates and parties but no-go areas for others.

“However, we now have an opportunity to break this unhealthy cycle and give local democracy a much-needed shot in the arm. For the first time, local councils in Wales have the opportunity to switch over to the more proportional single transferable vote, which is already used in Scotland.

“This would mean politicians will have to fight for every vote as well as ending the scourge of safe seats and travesty of contests being won without a single vote being cast.”