Carmarthen East and Dinefwr was created in 1997. Its predecessor seat, Carmarthen had the distinction of being the birthplace of Plaid Cymru's parliamentary fortunes. It was here that Gwynfor Evans won the seat in the spectacular by-election victory of 1966. He lost it to Labour again in 1970, but regained it once more in October 1974. Since Roger Thomas won the seat for Labour in 1979 it has remained stubbornly Labour.

Carmarthen East and Dinefwr is mainly rural and predominantly Welsh speaking. The most recent boundary revisions brought in the Labour supporting Amman Valley from Llanelli, which helped Alan Williams keep the seat Labour, despite a 5.5% increase in Plaid Cymru's vote. It was Plaid Cymru's only realistic target seat in the 1997 elections, and some three months later in September 1997 it was Carmarthen that became the final authority to record an overwhelming Yes vote to the referendum on a Welsh Assembly. It became clear therefore that the constituency had developed strong Welsh nationalist leanings.

Following Carmarthen's endorsement of devolution, it was not long before Plaid Cymru was able to reap some of the benefit. Their 1997 candidate, Rhodri Glyn Thomas, returned in 1999 for victory when he took the Assembly seat with a 15% swing. The party also fared well in the council and European elections, increasing their vote to over 51%. Labour will do very well to hold on here.

Parliamentary Statistics pre-Election 2001

Labour majority 3,450 (8.3%)  Plaid Cymru target
MP Alan Wynne Williams
1997 (Turnout 78.6%)
Labour	17,907	42.9%
Plaid Cymru	14,457	34.6%
Conservative	5,022	12.0%
Liberal Democrat	3,150	7.6%
Referendum	1,196	2.9%

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For Carmarthen East & Dinefwr 2001 Election result - click here.