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Councillor Calver's reflections on the Welsh Assembly Government Election of 3rd May 2007 as submitted to the Western Telegraph and the Tenby Observer. The Western Telegraph decided not to print it Dear Editor, Reflections on the Assembly Elections. Further to the recent Assembly Elections I would like to take this opportunity to make public some of the issues that were brought to my attention during canvassing. Whilst I did not stand on the regional list, during canvassing I discovered that many voters were unaware of the range of candidates standing for election in this section. In future I would suggest that more publicity should be arranged to inform potential voters of the candidates actually standing on the regional list. An alternative that I would support would be for all candidates to be elected on a constituency basis however with that option there would be the necessity to overhaul constituency boundaries. Both Assembly and Parliament members should mirror the county council boundary unlike the current position where the elected member for Carmarthen West and South Pembrokeshire covers half of Pembrokeshire and half of Carmarthenshire which includes part of Carmarthen itself. The electorate also raised their concern that the main political parties were avoiding many subjects. These concerned members of the public accepted that these issues were not the responsibility of the Welsh Assembly but they felt they should still be addressed as they were under the parties' control through their representatives at Westminster and had great impact on us here in Wales. One of the points that caused great concern was our membership of the European Union and its influence on our society regarding both resultant legislation and the controversial issue of immigration both illegal and legal through the freedom of movement of labour within the European Union. Many felt that in general both direct and indirect taxation was too high and that most of the Objective One funded European projects did not assist the asserted long term aim towards economic regeneration in Wales. A new constitution concerned many and that many felt that if a recession comes there will be tension regarding employment and housing provision especially for those residents in need of public sector housing. The subject of fox hunting which has an emotive issue of the last few years was also raised with me. There was a feeling that this was a taboo subject as it seems to have been put aside at this election. The question was raised that perhaps both Labour and the Conservatives with Westminster elections coming decided this is another subject to be put on the backburner. The issue of county council spending and interference of both local and central government into family life was also an issue of concern. Whilst in particular thanking those who supported me with their vote I would also like to extend my thanks to all those who voted for the other candidates as well as it is of concern to me that less than fifty percent of the electorate voted. Whilst accepting that the electorate needs to be fully informed who is standing and on what basis, literature bombardment was something that was aired as a reason for electorate apathy. Perhaps one way of ensuring that this does not occur in the future and also in the interest of ensuring a more equal basis for candidates to put forward their campaign points a restriction should be placed on this literature namely that only one leaflet for each candidate/party is provided per household. This issue will have particular interest to all who pay tax as a current idea at government level is for state funding for political parties. Many electors who are disillusioned with politics and politicians saying "my vote will not make a difference" and "politicians are only in it for what they can get" need to be encouraged to both vote and if they do not wish or are not able to stand as party candidates encouragement should be there for these people to stand as independent candidates. In conclusion may I thank all the people I met during the election campaign for our discussions regarding their concerns and the frank and open views they expressed to me. Also I would like to wish the best to the candidates that have been elected in the constituencies covered by this newspaper, I hope they enjoy their time as our representatives in Cardiff and achieve all they set out to achieve in their term in office.