Ap Iorwerth was confirmed after a plenary vote on Tuesday with the support of the 43 Senedd members of his party and two Greens. Plaid Cymru ended Labour's century-long electoral dominance in Wales in last week's elections, winning the most seats in the newly expanded 96-seat parliament. Reform, which had hoped to be the biggest party, won 34 seats, and Labour came third with just nine seats, marking a definitive end to the party's grip on its birthplace.
The ruling coalition in Germany's eastern state of Brandenburg lost its majority on Tuesday, sparking calls from the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) for new elections. Centre-left SPD state premier Dietmar Woidke said he would run a minority government for now and seek talks on a new alliance with the centre-right Christian Democrats (CDU) of Chancellor Friedrich Merz. The crisis was sparked when Woidke ended a year-old coalition with the BSW, a far-left Moscow-friendly party, citing "constant disagreements" within the junior coalition partner.
Canada's ruling Liberal party has said a budget of sacrifice is required to confront both a trade war with the US and a protracted cost of living crisis that threatens to push the country into a recession. But with opposition parties signalling they won't support the fiscal plans of the prime minister, Mark Carney, a failed parliamentary vote on the budget could plunge the country into another federal election in the coming weeks.
