5(1)The Commission, in considering the electoral arrangements for an area under review, must—E+W
(a)seek to ensure that the ratio of local government electors to the number of councillors of the principal council to be elected for the area under review is, as nearly as may be, the same in every electoral ward of the area of the council, and
(b)have regard to—
(i)the desirability of setting boundaries for electoral wards which are and will remain easily identifiable, and
(ii)the desirability of not breaking local ties when setting boundaries for electoral wards.
(2)For the purposes of sub-paragraph (1)(a) account is to be taken of—
(a)any discrepancy between the number of local government electors and the number of persons who are eligible to be local government electors (as indicated by relevant official statistics), and
(b)any change in the number or distribution of local government electors in the area under review which is likely to take place in the period of five years beginning immediately after recommendations are made.
(3)The Welsh Ministers may, for the purposes of an initial review, direct a principal council for an area under review or a council for a community in an area under review to provide the Commission with any information or documents which the Welsh Ministers consider appropriate.
(4)In this paragraph and paragraph 6—
“local government elector” (“etholwr llywodraeth leol”) means a person registered as a local government elector in the register of electors in accordance with the provisions of the Representation of the People Acts;
“relevant official statistics” (“ystadegau swyddogol perthnasol”) means the official statistics within the meaning of section 6 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (c. 18) which the Commission considers appropriate.