At the 2011 assembly election, Plaid Cymru's share of seats in the assembly fell from 15 to 11 seats to make it the third-largest party in the assembly. The Welsh Conservatives, which had served as the official opposition for the duration of the coalition government, won enough seats to supersede Plaid as the second-largest party with 14 seats and remained the official opposition after the end of the coalition. Jones announced that he would resign as Plaid leader in the first half of the assembly term and on 15 March 2012 Leanne Wood won a leadership election to succeed him as leader before forming a new frontbench team.
At the 2011 National Assembly for Wales election, Plaid Cymru share of seats fell from 15 to 11 seats and it lost its place as the second-largest party to the Welsh Conservatives, which won 14 seats and remained the Official Opposition, having gained that status after Plaid joined the government in 2007. After the election, Labour did not renew its coalition with Plaid Cymru and instead formed a minority government. As it was not the Official Opposition, Plaid Cymru did not form the new Welsh Shadow Cabinet, though it could appoint a frontbench team of party spokespeople like other minor opposition parties in the assembly.
On 13 May 2011, Jones announced that he would resign as the leader of Plaid Cymru sometime in the first half of the 4th assembly term which would end in 2016 following its disappointing performance at the 2011 assembly election.[3][4] In October 2011, Jones announced that a leadership election would be held on 15 March 2012 to elect his successor.[5] By December 2011, Dafydd Elis-Thomas, Elin Jones, Leanne Wood and Simon Thomas had all declared their intention to stand for the leadership.[6] Thomas withdrew from the race in February 2012 and on 15 March 2012 Wood defeated Jones and Elis-Thomas and was elected the new leader of Plaid Cymru.[7][8] She formed a new frontbench team on 21 March 2012.[9][10][11]