Editing Strategic nomination (section)

== Independence of irrelevant alternatives ==
{{main|Independence of irrelevant alternatives}}
Strategic nomination consists of manipulating a feature of voting systems which lies in their lacking the property of ‘independence of irrelevant alternatives’. [[Arrow's impossibility theorem]] shows that this property is inconsistent with others with more compelling claims to acceptance, and in consequence all seriously proposed voting systems are vulnerable in principle to strategic nomination.

In the limited case in which votes are cast according to positions on a [[political spectrum]], voting systems which satisfy the [[Condorcet criterion]] also satisfy the [[median voter theorem]] which protects them against strategic manipulation. Other voting systems remain vulnerable. An [[Borda count#Effect of irrelevant candidates|example in the Borda count article]] shows how that system can be subverted by nominating candidates on one side of a political spectrum.