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Proportional representation would end the scourge of tactical voting

The losses in Wakefield and in Tiverton and Honiton, where the Liberal Democrats overturned a 24,000 Conservative majority, were both the result of declining support for Johnson’s government, but also it would appear, the result of widescale tactical voting....

Posted 03 Jul 2022

Tactical voting is often presented as the answer, but the truth is it is just a symptom

Little evidence to suggest that electoral pacts had ‘material impact on the result’

Last week I wrote about tactical voting at the 2019 General Election, after the ERS revealed that almost a third of voters did not feel they were able to vote for the party they actually...

Posted 11 Mar 2020

Tactical voting- A roll of the dice… but the house always wins

When millions feel unable to vote for their favourite candidate, something is seriously wrong

Three months after the election, yet more evidence of Westminster’s dysfunction is coming to light. Tactical voting is going up Previously unreleased YouGov data for the ERS has revealed that almost a third of voters...

Posted 06 Mar 2020

A third of voters said they voted tactically in the 2019 election

Three ways Westminster’s voting system has skewed the election – before a single vote is cast

Though we are still a couple of days away from knowing the outcome of the general election, the campaign has already exposed the worst flaws of the First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system. In...

Posted 10 Dec 2019

In many parts of the UK there isn’t much of a contest this election

Is this the ‘hold your nose’ election? Record-breaking numbers set to vote tactically

Polling from BMG research for the Electoral Reform Society has revealed that a record-breaking 30% of the public plan to vote ‘tactically’ in the next General Election. Tactical voting occurs when voters choose the best-positioned...

Posted 04 Dec 2019

Record-breaking 30% of the public plan to vote ‘tactically’ in the General Election

We should be scrutinising candidates and policies. Instead the talk is of tactics and pacts

Judging by the first week of the general election campaign, it seems likely that the remaining month will see a lot of focus on ‘tactical’ issues. We’ve already seen electoral pacts, or parties standing down...

Posted 13 Nov 2019

Tactical voting and electoral pacts are two sides of the same coin

What is tactical voting and why is it bad for democracy?

In a Westminster election, tactical voting takes place when a voter chooses a candidate whom they wouldn’t normally support, in order to prevent another candidate from winning. For example, if you want to vote for...

Posted 12 Nov 2019

Voters shouldn’t have to change their behaviour to work around first past the post’s failings

‘Strong and stable’? Westminster’s voting system is anything but

Voters won’t be bossed about – perhaps that’s the first lesson we should take from the election. From voting for a parliament where no party got more than half the seats in an election hinged...

Posted 15 Jun 2017

First Past the Post’s Third Strike

We’ve heard it time and time again in different forms: First Past the Post is ‘strong and stable’. It seems that myth has been well and truly bust. This is the third election in a...

Posted 12 Jun 2017

The scourge of tactical voting

A fifth of voters feel unable to back the party they most support this election, according to polling for the ERS. It’s more than twice the number as in 2015. This is a situation foisted...

Posted 07 Jun 2017