1946 Cardiganshire County Council election

The seventeenth election to Cardiganshire County Council took place in March 1946. It was preceded by the 1937 election with the scheduled 1940 and 1943 being postponed due to the Second World War, and followed by the 1949 election.

Candidates
27 candidates were returned unopposed, all but three of whom were retiring members. This resulted in 23 contests, the largest number since 1922. The contested wards included five of the six wards at Aberystwyth, where very few contests had taken place in the inter-war period. While the overwhelming majority of candidates stood as Independents, there were four Labour candidates.

Eight aldermen retired, of whom four sought election.

Outcome
The new council was composed entirely of Independents, apart from a sole Labour councillor who won a seat at Aberystwyth. However, there were a number of long-serving councillors who lost their seats, including three at Aberystwyth.

At Felinfach, Simon Davies, a retiring alderman, defeated Gwladys Davies of Llanllyr who had represented the ward since 1928.

Election of Aldermen
In addition to the 50 councillors the council consisted of 16 county aldermen. Aldermen were elected by the council, and served a six-year term. Following the 1946 election, there were eight aldermanic vacancies which were filled at the annual meeting. Those elected included only one retiring alderman and the first woman ever appointed in the county.

The following retiring aldermen was re-elected:
 * D.R. Morgan, Bow Street

In addition, the following seven new aldermen were elected:
 * Mrs C.M. Evans, Aberystwyth
 * John Williams, Goginan
 * Morgan Jones, Strat Florida
 * Josiah R. Jones, Llandysul
 * Rees Williams, Llwyndafydd
 * Capt D. Morgan, Llannon
 * David James, Llwyndyrus

The following retiring aldermen had been re-elected as members of the council but were not re-elected as aldermen:
 * Simon Davies, Felinfach

Of the newly elected aldermen, Josiah Jones had previously served as alderman from 1922 until 1934.

By-elections
Six contested by-elections were held following the election of aldermen.