Reform candidate quits party amid 'parachuting' row
Getty ImagesA Reform candidate has pulled out of standing in May's Senedd election and will quit the party, saying that the experience had broken his "belief in politics".
Andrew Barry's announcement came as party sources suggested that there was anger over "parachuting" people into seats from outside the area and the number of defections from the Conservatives.
BBC Wales has been told that Reform's position is that all candidates were selected according to the same scoring system.
It is understood that Reform's prospective candidates were contacted by the party on the weekend, with some then deciding to withdraw.
The BBC has been told that the withdrawals had delayed Reform's plans to unveil a list of candidates.
The party published its list on Wednesday evening.
Barry was in the running to stand as a candidate in the Pontypridd Cynon Merthyr seat, but confirmed that he had pulled out after he was told that Jason O'Connell would be the number one candidate on Reform's list for the constituency.
O'Connell is a councillor in Torfaen and has been a high-profile media performer for Reform in Wales.
Barry said: "I thought this was what I had been waiting for – a party that could break the cartel of Labour and Plaid Cymru alliances, only to find over the past few months that things have not quite added up."
He added: "We finally thought someone was there for people at the heart of the valleys and it's left me bereft of belief."
He described O'Connell as an "ex-Tory" and said: "This will not go down well. There are too many Tories now in the party.
"If Reform believes that putting a former Conservative into the heart of the valleys will go well, then they are wrong."
"It has left a bitter taste that no one cares about Merthyr."
O'Connell was an independent councillor before joining Nigel Farage's party, but served briefly as a Conservative, something he has previously described as "a mistake".
Barry said he and local party members had been told that they would have a final say on candidates in their area and that without it he felt he had no option but to stand down.
Another candidate said that he had told Welsh party leader Dan Thomas that he would not stand because people were being parachuted in from other parts of Wales.
The source added that Reform branches were "in turmoil" over the plans.
"Branches generally meet once a month, but they have had no say in the selection of candidates," he said.
"All of that was done in assessment centres and decided by London."
The source said there had been "radio silence" since the assessment centres in January and that the number of Conservative defections was "massively annoying people".
In Wales two former Conservative MSs are now Reform members – Laura Anne Jones and James Evans – and a number of councillors have also defected.
Evans, currently MS for Brecon and Radnorshire, tops Reform's list in the new Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd constituency.
South Wales East MS Jones heads the Sir Fynwy Torfaen list and Llyr Powell, the Caerphilly by-election candidate, gets the number one slot in Blaenau Gwent Caerffili Rhymni.
A separate source told BBC Wales: "The only thing anyone cares about is the top one or two places."
"When the party tells people who want to be elected that they are in position five then those people will walk and it is then tough to replace them."
It is understood that the party's position is that all candidates were selected in the same way, and that the vast majority of candidates have not stood for a political party before.
Under the Senedd's new voting system, people vote for the party of their choice, with the party deciding the order of its candidates.
Each of the 16 constituencies returns six MSs in an expanded 96-seat Parliament.
Political parties have until 9 April to submit their lists of candidates to local returning officers for May's poll.
