What does Plaid Cymru's Rhun ap Iorwerth do next after election victory?

Rob Norman/Plaid Cymru

Plaid Cymru forged a stunning victory in this week's Senedd election, replacing Labour as the largest party in Wales.

To a crowd of cheering well-wishers and party activists, leader Rhun ap Iorwerth vowed on Saturday that he will go it alone, forming a Welsh government of only Plaid Cymru ministers.

That is tricky when his group of 43 is six seats short of a majority, and there is potential for drama to come.

But for now, the road for ap Iorwerth to become first minister is speed bump-free.

What does he need to do next?

1. Become first minister

It was obvious at Saturday's victory rally that Plaid does not want to mess about and delay getting into government.

In the Welsh Parliament there is a formal process to make that happen, where ap Iorwerth will have to be confirmed as first minister in a vote.

Plaid wants that to happen at the earliest possible opportunity - on Tuesday.

The Senedd's presiding officer will need to give members 24 hours notice before a meeting can take place.

Ap Iorwerth should make it through the process because the numbers in the new 96-member Senedd are in his favour.

He is helped by the fact that Labour's vastly diminished group of nine is expected to sit on their hands and abstain.

It's not known what the Conservatives would, do but even if they supported Reform they would only have a combined 41 votes, versus Plaid's 43. The Lib Dems and the Greens have said they will not help Reform in any way.

Members will need to confirm their choice in a roll call - the winner is the candidate who gets more than any other choice combined.

Something else needs to happen as well though - the Senedd needs to find a replacement for Presiding Officer Elin Jones, whose job is also known as the Llywydd.

Several names have been mentioned, including Paul Davies from the Conservatives and Huw Irranca-Davies from Labour.

MSs will need to elect the presiding officer in a secret ballot, before they select a new first minister.

If that is not straight forward it could potentially delay ap Iorwerth becoming first minister.

Rob Norman/Plaid Cymru

2. Form his team

Ap Iorwerth will then have the job of picking who from his team will get to be a minister.

The number of ministers he can have, other than himself, is increasing from 12 to 17.

There is little solid intel yet on who he might pick. You could guess that some of his Senedd members who have worked on certain portfolios for a while might want the jobs for real now - or he might want them to do something else.

His health minister could be Mabon ap Gwynfor, for example - Plaid's health spokesperson. But that's more of an educated guess at this stage.

The rest of his Senedd members will begin to get to work over the next few weeks. There are a host of jobs that need dishing out - like who will run committees, something which needs to be sorted between the parties.

3. Get to work

Plaid spelled out a plan for its first 100 days at their conference back in February.

It was dismissed by some at the time for being a document full of plans and reviews.

For example, under the title "tackling waiting lists", Plaid said it would commission an independent review of how the NHS is performing.

It has been elected under a promise of improving public services and it will be keen to show it's making a difference - such as in bringing down Wales' huge NHS waiting times.

He will want to make the case to the UK government for more support - something that will frankly be difficult given the bruising Labour took in Wales and elsewhere.

But money is tight - Labour criticised Plaid Cymru during the campaign for making spending pledges that it couldn't afford, such as on expanding childcare. Plaid insisted its plans were costed.

Ap Iorwerth may also want to set out a new budget to move money around to its new policies.

Rob Norman/Plaid Cymru

4. Deals - could independence scupper them?

Plaid is going to need to find ways of working with other parties to get important votes through the Senedd.

It will have to pass a list of spending plans every year - called a budget. If it doesn't, the Welsh government suffers painful automatic cuts.

That could be a flash-point when it comes to Plaid making the case for independence.

The party has ruled out a referendum in the first term of a government as it tried to win over union-leaning voters, but says it will fund a commission that will build the case for it.

Could it become tricky to find votes in the Senedd for a budget if Plaid earmarks cash for that exercise? We don't know. The Lib Dems' Jane Dodds has refused to help anyone spend any money on independence, for example.

5. Build his party

Plaid won Thursday's election by pulling together a coalition of voters determined to stop Reform from winning.

In the past it was mocked for calling itself the "Party of Wales" but having concentrated support only in certain parts of it.

Now it has representatives everywhere.

Can Plaid over the next few years convert those who lent their vote this time around into long-term supporters, and build a base for the party across the country?