The ethics of tactical voting

It was recently suggested by the Lib Dems that if everyone was to vote for the true party of their choice then they would be the largest party in Holyrood. A truly breathtaking claim, but perhaps a clever one as you can’t quantify it. Even, bizarrely, with an open election around the corner.

But I guess that’s life in the 21^st century, a cynical age, where the brain, mouth and hands don’t always work in conjunction with one another. It is a perverse period where a party can win an election and the party that finishes third can not only hold the winning party’s destiny in their hands but can also suggest that their own leader should be First Minister.

So what scene am I setting here. Well, the whole raison d’etre of my blog has been called into question. Not only by a dedicated SNP footsoldier who left an annoyed message that he/she’s working hard on the streets to get a candidate elected and here am I suggesting voting for David McLetchie and Jackson Carlaw etc to aid the SNP push for power, I have also called my own thinking into question.

There are two ways to approach an election really, close your eyes and ears to what’s going on around the country in other constituencies, look deep into yourself, decide what is important to you and then vote for the candidate/party who can best represent you in parliament. It’s a noble approach, a principled approach some would say, but perhaps also a naïve approach some others could suggest.

Take a close family relative of mine, due to vote Lib Dems in a constituency where, without a shadow of a doubt, they will finish fourth. A wasted vote on the one hand, but then again, they will always languish in fourth if they don’t get the support that genuinely exists in that constituency.

And further to this, the concept of tactical voting reminds me of the story of the town who planned to have their local fountain flowing with milk for a local celebration. Each resident agreed to pour a pint of milk into the VAT the day before the celebrations were to take place.

One individual decided they didn’t have time to get to the shops and so poured in a carton of water, safe in the knowledge that the fountain would still flow beautifully white come the next day.

Upon the mayor switching the fountain on, amidst great pomp and ceremony, everyone was disappointed to see that the fountain, as ever, was just flowing water. The settled wish of the town didn’t come through as everyone had put too much faith in the rest of the town to play by the rules.

The parallels with tactical voting are fair to draw. What if so many people tactically vote that we get a result that actually bears no resemblance to what Scotland actually wants? Why is the simple process of democracy in action so difficult to follow for some?

Well, thankfully I have no such quandary between tactically voting or going with my heart. My brain, mouth and hands will be as one come May 3^rd as I get to vote in Edinburgh North and Leith which has Davie Hutchison with a fair chance of winning. I’ve assessed all the candidates and parties and it just so happens that Davie and the SNP best reflect my own hopes for Scotland. I won’t have the dilemma of SNP supporters in Eastwood and Edinburgh South for example.

Despite my recent wobble regarding tactical voting as a whole, at the end of the day we’re not just voting for a local MSP, we all have an equal say in who forms the next administration. Tactically voting to that end does have a certain honour to it, sacrificing your personal views for what you perceive as the good of Scotland.

If you want to see Alex Salmond address the Debating Chamber as First Minister, there’s a fair chance your first vote may have to go to someone other than the SNP to make sure it happens. After all, we’ve got to keep those Lib Dems from being the largest party somehow.