What is tactical voting?

Tactical voting is when someone votes for a candidate who is not their first choice, to stop a candidate they like less from winning. It is common under first past the post, where only the top candidate in each seat wins. For example, a voter may back the second-placed party locally to defeat the leader.

Under first past the post, votes for a candidate who comes third or lower do not affect who wins. That gives voters a reason to support whichever challenger is best placed to win locally. Websites and campaign groups often publish recommendations based on the last result and local polls. It is most common among voters whose favourite party has little chance locally, such as Green or Liberal Democrat supporters in some seats.

Tactical voting played a large part at the 1997 and 2024 general elections. In 2024 many voters in Conservative-held seats appear to have backed whichever of Labour or the Liberal Democrats was stronger locally. This helped both parties win more seats than their national vote shares might suggest. Polls suggested around one in five voters considered voting tactically in 2024.

Critics say tactical voting shows the voting system is broken, because people cannot vote for what they actually want. It also hides true support for smaller parties. Supporters of proportional representation argue it would remove the need to vote tactically. Others see it as a sensible way for voters to make their ballot count.