Tactical Manipulation of Runoff Voting

Tactical Manipulation Of Runoff Voting

Like virtually all other electoral systems, in the two-round system, there is potential for both tactical voting and strategic nomination. Tactical voting is where voters do not vote in accordance with their true preferences, but instead vote insincerely in an attempt to influence the result. Runoff voting is intended as a method that reduces tactical voting, but two tactics called compromising and pushover are still possible in many circumstances. In particular voters are strongly encouraged to compromise by voting for one of the three leading candidates in the first round of an election.

Strategic nomination is where candidates and political factions influence the result of an election by either nominating extra candidates or withdrawing a candidate who would otherwise have stood. Runoff is intended to reduce the spoiler effect, but it does not eliminate it. A famous example of the importance of both strategic nomination and tactical voting in runoff voting was the 2002 French presidential election.