Tactical voting will still occur under the alternative vote, but much less so than under first past the post

Abstract

Exactly what will change if the UK adopts the Alternative Vote (AV) system in next May’s referendum? Reformers argue that AV removes any need for large numbers of voters to choose to vote tactically, rather than supporting their top preference party. But social science theory insists that tactical voting can occur under all voting systems, although showing up in different ways. Rafael Hortala-Vallve makes clear that AV will probably cut the incidence of tactical voting, but cannot get rid of it altogether