To ask a question about tactical voting. (trying to keep it general)

[LEMmingaround]

Is it worth it in these upcoming elections?

Our local MEP does not belong to a party i would usually vote for. They have quite a large majority usually.

There has been a worrying trend (judging by posters etc) that another party, that i would want even less seems to be gaining popularity locally.

So, should i vote for the party with the bigger majority - hoping to ensure that they stay in over the party i really don't want, or should i just vote for the party i would normally vote for when effectively, it is a wasted vote as they generally don't do well in this area?

Does tactical voting matter less in local elections? or more? I voted tactically in the general elections - for that i apologise!!

I thought the upcoming European election is a pooled vote? Or have they changed the rules?

I voted tactically once, under extremely heavy pressure from my father. I'd been eighteen for all of a week when the election was held. This is one reason I feel very uncomfortable about sixteen year olds being allowed to vote in the Scottish referendum. Since then I have always voted for the candidate I feel happiest about, even if they don't stand a cat's hope in hell.

I've even voted Monster Raving Looney once, as the candidate talked more sensibly when he came to the door than any of the others!

I believe tactical voting distorts democracy as it gives a false picture of how much support a party actually has. (The LibDems have built an entire political party essentially off the back of tactical voting).

I feel that you should vote always with your conscience because these votes aren't wasted - they act as a barometer of sentiment for policies and as a result may change the policies of whoever "wins" anyway. Not voting for the party you actually support also may have the inadvertent effect of them changing their policies to be more like the winner (see New Labour!) Tactical voting is a disaster for democracy all round imo.

I would struggle to put my cross next to a Tory in order to keep out UKIP (I assume this is the "other" party involved). I could probably manage it though, if it came to the crunch (my vote was the decider). I would vote for any of Labour/LibDem (gorge rising)/Green as a tactical measure to keep out UKIP (providing I'd ascertained that my "true" vote was very likely to be "wasted").

For the European elections, you will be in an area which will have a certain number of MEPs. eg Scotland has 6. So you don't vote for 'your' local one, your vote goes into a pool out of which the top 6 candidates float to the top... (like, erm, cream? That would be the polite version...)

I looked up on Wikipedia to see what happened last time for my area - and decided it is very likely that 5 out of the 6 positions will go to the same parties they went to last time around. The real fight last time was for the 6th position, which went LibDem, with the 'closest runners up' being Green then UKIP.

Personally, I reckon the Lib Dems will lose vote share in my area... which leaves a question of whether a tactical vote is worth it to improve one over the other...

I think it's worth looking at the voting system, guessing what you think will go up or down this time round, and deciding what vote is going to make the overall result closer to what you want. Whether that's tactical or not depends on your area and your guesses!

Or, just vote for whichever one you think are best

I think tactical voting does have a place. But in the end you just have to weigh things up and make a decision.

Welcome to elections Northern Ireland style, where tactical voting is the only sort . And that has served us so well over the years. No, wait...

I think you have to think about where the other party might be gaining its votes from, if you're going to tactically vote. The political parties left-of-centre have traditionally suffered from vote splitting far more than the right- between the SWP, Labour, Lib-Dems and Greens, etc.

This problem may be becoming a problem for parties right-of-centre these days. For example, there is a newish party on the block, that receives lots of press coverage. Many members and local councillors are ex-conservatives.