On 29 July, some three hundred delegates from throughout the constituency gathered at Ammanford to select a candidate. The proceedings were dominated by debates about the eligibility of various delegates to vote but eventually it was agreed to proceed on the basis of the credentials provided for those delegates in attendance. Abel Thomas was selected as Liberal candidate, defeating Gwilym Evans by 170 votes against 121. It was felt that Evans's flirtation with Liberal Unionism may have proved his undoing. As the Cambrian News stated, "Wales is determined to have nothing whatever to do with any candidate who in 1886 went over to the Tories."
