Pembrokeshire County Council Elections - 3rd May 2012

That said, I am not going to abuse the hospitality of the Western Telegraph and make some political rants that could be used by others to complain that the paper has breached its "independent" stance.

I was reading the list of nominations yesterday and I can see that there are 13 councillors already elected, as they have been returned unopposed. The same figure as last time. What a shame for democracy that 13 out of 60 seats are already filled!

There are just 4 nominations for the Liberal Democrats, 13 for Plaid Cymru and 18 for Labour.

There are 36 who call themselves Independent and 39 with no description at all, so its safe to assume they are independent as well.

The most obvious change from last time is the fact that there are 30 Conservative candidates. As many people invariably say that Independents are really Conservatives but afraid to show their true colours, the My 3rd elections are certainly going to be interesting.

Is it possible that the Independent Political Group could actually lose their majority this time round as its possible that the Conservatives could increase their number and thus deprive the IPG of the majority they've had alll these years.

So could there then be a ruling IPG/Conservative coalition?

Or could there be a Rainbow coalition of the other parties to deny the IPG of power.

Whatever happens over the next few weeks, could we see some surprise on May 4th, once the results are known?

I look forward to seeing what the parties have to say in their manifestos. I understand the Conservative manifesto is to be launched today.

The big question is, will the Independents actually produce a manifesto?

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