Coalition negotiations are an important factor in the strategicvoting calculations made by European electorates.

Strategic voting, where voters give their support to a less favoured party in order to influence the result of an election, is a common feature of many democracies. Orit Kedar argues that while a great deal of work has been done to study the nature of strategic voting, it has generally focused exclusively on voter calculations about a party’s ability to win parliamentary seats. Calculations about coalition negotiations, such as voting for one half of a likely governing coalition, have mostly been overlooked; yet they may play a crucial role in determining how European electorates cast their vote.