The local elections 2022 are upon us. Brits up and down the country are taking to polling stations to cast their vote on who they want to see filling seats at lower levels of governance.
The local election s will have implications for things in your area, like planning and roads, but they will also have further-reaching connotations for politics up the ladder.
A vote cast for the local election says just as much about how you want your neighbourhood to look as it does your opinion on partygate or the cost of living crisis.
Like with any election, talk of tactical voting is flying around, but what does this familiar nod to strategy actually mean?
What is tactical voting?
Tactical voting means not necessarily voting for your party of choice but still entering your ballot with the aim of achieving your overall goal.
This might mean voting for your second choice candidate or even someone you forcefully dislike or disagree with.
The UK uses First Past the Post, also known as FPTP, to settle its elections.
Ultimately this means that the candidate who wins the most votes in each constituency is elected. All you need is more votes than your opponent to secure the seat.
Division and a lack of unity can be a politician’s best friend, with many candidates capitalising on scattered voting and weak opposition to skate through and take the seat.
The thinking behind tactical voting is to undo this, preventing unfavourable candidates from winning through the weakness of their rivals, rather than their own strength.
In other words, tactical voting is casting your vote in favour of the candidate with the best chance of beating the person who you don’t want to see win. Think of it as negative voting, rather than the more traditional positive style - a preference for the lesser evil.
For someone who subscribes to the logic of tactical voting, the decision to cast your vote in favour of your chosen candidate who has no chance of winning is, in effect, a waste.
If, for instance, you are a Labour supporter but you live in a battleground where only Lib Dems or the Tories have a chance of winning, a tactical voter may consider voting for the candidate they would be less upset to see win, in order to keep the one you really didn’t want from winning.
Researchers from the Queen Mary University of London’s Mile End conducted a poll that suggested 35% of Lib Dem voting Londoners from the 2019 election may opt for Labour in the local election in a bid to keep out rivals.
