Vote-buying is one of the most direct forms of electoral pressure: someone offers you money, food, a gift or another benefit in exchange for your vote. It can happen on a street corner, in a neighbourhood, at a workplace, at a church or through someone you know. Two things are worth knowing before that conversation ever reaches you. The first is that under the decree in force, buying a vote is not a minor offence, it is a crime. The second is that your vote is secret, which means the buyer can never actually verify what you did.
In short
Under the electoral decree of 2 June 2026, vote-buying sits in the chapter headed Crimes, not among the contraventions or the lesser offences. Offering money or other advantages to a voter in exchange for their vote is punished by hard labour for a fixed term (travaux forcés à temps) and a fine of three to five million gourdes (art. 358). Offering your own vote in exchange for money or other advantages is punished by the same hard-labour penalty and a fine of five hundred thousand gourdes, the seller is prosecuted too. Convictions in this chapter also carry the loss of civil and political rights for five to ten years (art. 373), and provisional release is not available (art. 371). Alongside the law, the practical protection is the secret ballot: suffrage is universal and secret (art. 2), and you mark your choice alone behind the isoloir (art. 237).
What the law actually says
The decree divides electoral offences into three levels: contraventions, délits and crimes. Vote-buying is in the third and most serious category.
- Buying a vote, art. 358, second paragraph. Any person, candidate or party official who offers money or other advantages to a voter in exchange for their vote faces hard labour for a fixed term and a fine of three million to five million gourdes.
- Selling a vote, art. 358, first paragraph. Anyone who offers their own vote in exchange for money or other advantages faces hard labour for a fixed term and a fine of five hundred thousand gourdes. This is the part most people do not know. The voter who takes the money is not treated as a victim by the text; they are prosecuted.
- Pressure short of payment, art. 351. Bargaining over a vote, or influencing or attempting to influence a voter by threat, trickery, abuse of power or any other reprehensible means, is a délit punished by six months to three years' imprisonment and a fine of three hundred thousand to five hundred thousand gourdes.
- Lying to keep you home, art. 353. Misleading a voter or pushing them to abstain by spreading false news or slander is punished by six months to one year and a fine of fifty thousand to seventy-five thousand gourdes.
- Violating the secrecy of the vote, art. 336. Attempting to violate, or knowingly violating, the secrecy of a vote is punished by ten to thirty days and a fine of thirty-five thousand to fifty thousand gourdes.
Three further rules apply to everything in the crimes chapter: no provisional release while proceedings are under way (art. 371); the maximum penalty where the offence is part of a concerted, planned operation across the country or in several places (art. 372); and, on top of the sentence, disqualification from civil and political rights for five to ten years for any citizen or candidate convicted (art. 373).
Campaigning is not vote-buying
It matters to keep the line clear. A candidate or political organisation may set out its ideas, hold meetings, distribute campaign material and ask for your support. That is politics. What the law targets is different: making a payment or a benefit conditional on how you vote.
The secret ballot is your protection
The decree opens with a principle, not a procedure: suffrage is universal and secret (art. 2). The procedure then enforces it. You go behind the isoloir and mark your ballot there, with a cross or another unambiguous sign, in the space reserved for the candidate of your choice (art. 237).
So someone can ask you to vote for them. They can promise you something. They can even tell you they will know what you did. What they cannot do is stand behind you while you mark the paper.
Do not try to prove your vote
This is where voters get hurt. If someone tells you to photograph your ballot, mark it in a special way, show it before you drop it in the urn, or otherwise create proof of your choice, do not do it.
There is a practical reason on top of the principle. A ballot is declared null, and not counted at all, if it is damaged, carries several choices, or carries marks that do not clearly indicate the voter's intention (art. 244). An extra mark added to satisfy someone else can cost you your vote entirely. You would not be protecting the candidate who asked for proof; you would be cancelling your own ballot.
“But they gave me money. I have to vote for them.”
No, and the law is blunter than that: taking the money is itself a crime under art. 358. Beyond that, no one can legitimately follow you into the booth to enforce the promise. The secrecy of the ballot means the person who paid cannot observe your choice.
The point for voters is narrow and firm: never believe that accepting a promise gives someone ownership of your ballot.
The bigger cost
A small payment can feel important when money is tight. But the person elected will shape public decisions for years, municipal services, local administration, public spending, legislation. A few hours of relief is being traded against several years of decisions.
That is why vote-buying is not simply a transaction between two individuals. When votes are purchased, the bill is eventually paid by the same community, in the form of decisions taken by the people who bought their way into power.
Pamelection does not tell you which candidate to support. That decision belongs entirely to you. The point here is narrower: your vote is not property, and no one can buy it.
If someone tries to buy your vote
Do not put yourself in danger. If the situation is safe to document, note the place, date, time, people involved and what was offered or requested. Avoid confrontation.
If it happens at or around a voting centre, you can alert the president of the voting bureau, an accredited observer or a party mandataire. For a formal complaint, use the channels established by the electoral authorities.
Precision matters. “Someone was buying votes” is a rumour. A documented account of who, where, when and what happened gives the authorities something they can actually examine.
What if the pressure is not money?
Vote-buying is not always cash in an envelope. Pressure takes other forms: a threat to your job, a demand from a local authority, intimidation by a group, pressure from someone who controls access to a service. Art. 351 covers exactly this, threat, trickery, abuse of power, or any other reprehensible means.
The principle does not change: your electoral choice belongs to you. The voting centre must let you vote freely and secretly. If you are intimidated, put your safety first and alert the electoral authorities or the people responsible for security at the centre when it is safe to do so.
The one sentence to remember
You will hear promises, threats and offers before election day. Inside the booth, your choice is yours.
Questions people ask
Is buying a vote actually illegal?
It is a crime, not a misdemeanour. Selling your vote carries hard labour and a 500,000-gourde fine; buying one carries hard labour and 3 to 5 million gourdes (art. 358). See What the law actually says.
They gave me money. Am I obliged to vote for them?
No, and no one can check. The ballot is secret, so the buyer has no way to verify what you did in the booth. See “But they gave me money”.
Should I photograph my ballot to prove how I voted?
Never. Beyond the risk to the secrecy of your vote, an extra mark can make the ballot null and worth nothing at all (art. 244). See Do not try to prove your vote.
Is a T-shirt or a rally the same as vote-buying?
No. Campaigning, rallies and campaign material are lawful; what the law punishes is an exchange for your vote and pressure on your choice. See Campaigning is not vote-buying.
What it changes in your daily life
Vote-buying works best when voters believe the buyer can control what happens inside the booth. He cannot. Understanding that, and knowing that the law treats both sides of the transaction as a crime, changes the arithmetic. Listen to every campaign, weigh every promise, then walk into the isoloir, where the choice is yours alone.