tactical voting

noun

(in an election) the practice of casting one's vote not for the party of one's choice but for the second strongest contender in order to defeat the likeliest winner

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While several in the party point to a cocktail of factors for the loss, including tactical voting to keep out Reform, the Welsh government's legacy after 26 years in power, and local council disputes, some say Keir Starmer's leadership also came up.

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Even if National Rally qualifies for the second round in a large number of constituencies, voters could choose to adopt “le vote utile” - tactical voting - to keep the party out.

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It just goes to show there are lots of different possible numbers you can point to to support a message of tactical voting - and parties will pick whichever suits them.

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This is about tactical voting: for instance, the Liberal Democrats trying to get Labour voters or Green voters to back them to get the Conservatives out, or vice versa.

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One of the contributing factors to Blair’s landslide victory in 1997 came from so-called tactical voting, whereby some voters put aside their political preference and vote for whoever has the best chance of defeating the party they oppose the most.