Candidates step onto hustings

The candidates are: O J Williams (Welsh Conservative Party); Iain Sheldon (UK Indepence Party); Rhiannon Passmore (Labour Party); Elin Jones (Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales); and John Davies (the Welsh Liberal-Democrats).

JOHN DAVIES, Welsh Liberal-Democrat, was born and bred in Aberystwyth. He and his wife Sian have five children and the family home is at Rhydyfelin, Ceredigion .

For many years John was policy advisor to the National Farmers Union Cymru. He is presently manager of the Wales Food Centre at Horeb, Llandysul.

John combines local knowledge and commitment of a native Cardi with a wealth of professional experience rural affairs, economic development and policy work.

He readily admits to being particularly passionate about matters to do with education,and his political interests also include health and social services.

ELIN JONES, Plaid Cymru, the Party of Wales is also a native of Ceredigion and after her early education at Llanwnen Primary and Lampeter Secondary Schools, she went on first to Cardiff University and then UCW Aberystwyth where she respectively graduated in Economics and gained an MSc in Agricultural Economics.

She commanded 47.8 per cent of the vote when elected to the Assembly in 1999, taking the seat with a 10,251 majority.

Elin vows that Plaid Cymru will invest in key economic developmeny sites in Ceredigion such as Blaenannerch.

For two years she was the party's national chair. She is the party's shadow minister on economic development and is firmly committed to tackling head-on the problems which she sees as destroying our communities - the lack of affordable housing and of a reliable public transport system.

RHIANON PASSMORE, Labour party, has a background in the fields of education, probation and community work. She is a musician who works and teaches in Cardigan.

The youngest ever Welsh Labour Women's Committee and Policy Forum chair, Rhianon has a strong background in policy making and is also an elected member of Labour's National Policy Forum.

"Eighteen years chronic under investment in our public services and infrastructures has bled Wales dry. I believe in real money going into our public services - real money going into our schools and hospitals. That is what Labour is doing - slowly and steadily turning Wales around.

"I want the protection of a sustainable environment balanced by built housing - affordable for our young people.

IAIN SHELDON, UK Independence Party, is married and runs a smallholding at Cilcennin, near Aberaeron.

He is a successful dog breeder and judge and describes himself as "a complete democrat". He makes no secret of the fact that if he had his way there would be no Welsh Assembly.

Iain considers it is a sheer waste of money.

"If I am elected I will campaign to abolish the Assembly. The money saved will be better spent on our hospitals, schools and pensions," he says.

In the Assembly's place he would like to see a national council composed of Wales' MP's plus an equal number of local elected people.

Looking to his more immediate cause, Iain says he is especially concerned about the plight of British farming and about animal welfare issues.

"Politicians should forget about spin and start representing people and their interests,"he says. O J WILLIAMS, Conservatives, feels sure the Assembly is here for keeps. "The challenge is to make it serve Ceredigion properly.

"Nowadays, politicians are often the cause of, rather than the solution to our problems," says 'O J'. A Welsh speaker, born and bred in West Wales, with a family background in farming and business, he graduated from Oxford University as a Barrister Advocate in Criminal Courts.

He was the Conservative party's parliamentary candidate for Ceredigion in the 1987 and 1992 general elections.

'O J' insists that he is not a career politician.

"I have no purpose other than to serve the people of Ceredigion.

"With extensive experience in business, the law and elsewhere, I can bring to the Assembly qualities that are in short supply there."

And among his main priorities would be to direct money away from grandiose projects into frontline services and their providers - doctors, nurses and teachers; to invest more money in the Welsh Language Board; and to provide better care for the vulnerable, especially children and the elderly.

THE nominations have been confirmed and the gloves are off - the candidates for next month's National Assembly elections are squaring up for their May 1 showdown.

It is the second election since the National Assembly was created and it promises to be a keenly-fought contest.

Four nominees are lined up to do battle for the Preseli Pembrokeshire seat, but notably absent from the list is the sitting Labour AM, Richard Edwards. Mr Edwards is standing down for health reasons.

Labour has chosen Tamsin Dunwoody-Kneafsey, of Cwarre Dduon, Ambleston, to contest the seat instead. She has three opponents, Paul Davies, of Llandysul (Conservative), Michael Warden (Liberal Democrat) and Sion Tomos Jobbins, of Aberystwyth (Plaid Cymru).

The Carmarthen West and Pembrokeshire South constituency has attracted five candidates, including the serving Labour AM, Christine Gwyther, who travels to the Cardiff headquarters of the Assembly from her home at 73 High Street, Pembroke Dock.

The Liberal Democrat party has fielded Mary Megarry, of 6 Mill House, Pleasant Valley, while the Conservative party is pinning its hopes on David Thomas, of Swansea.

Llyr Hughes Griffiths is standing for Plaid Cymru, while Arthur Williams is contesting the seat as an Independent.

In Carmarthen East and Dynefwr the sitting member, Plaid Cymru's Rhodri Glyn Thomas faces a challenge from three political sides.

The full line-up of candidates here is Anthony Cooper (Labour); Steffan John (Liberal Democrat); Hari Lloyd Davies (Conservative); and Hywel Rhodri Glyn Thomas (Plaid Cymru).