Summary
Corruption includes the solicitation or acceptance of something of value in exchange for an advantage.
Obligations
Issues
Criteria
- The vote-counting process was transparent and observable
- The electoral management body, as an organ of the state, implemented effective policies to discourage acts of corruption
- The electoral management body maintained and implemented policies to prevent, address, and penalize acts of corruption, including during the voting process
Quotes
- This Convention is applicable to the following acts of corruption and related offences: (a) the solicitation or acceptance, directly or indirectly, by a public official or any other person, of any goods of monetary value, or other benefit, such as a gift, favour, promise or advantage for himself or herself or for another person or entity, in exchange for any act or omission in the performance of his or her public functions.
- The request or receipt by any of its public official, directly or indirectly, of any undue advantage, for himself or herself or for anyone else, or the acceptance of an offer or a promise of such an advantage, to act or refrain from acting in the exercise of his or her function.
- This Convention is applicable to the following acts of corruption: a. The solicitation or acceptance, directly or indirectly, by a government official or a person who performs public functions, of any article of monetary value, or other benefit, such as a gift, favor, promise or advantage for himself or for another person or entity, in exchange for any act or omission in the performance of his public functions.
- This Protocol is applicable to the following acts of corruption: a) the solicitation or acceptance, directly or indirectly, by a public official, of any article of monetary value, or other benefit, such as a gift, favour, promise or advantage for himself or herself or for another person or entity, in exchange for any act or omission in the performance of his or her public functions.
- 1. This Protocol shall be applicable to the following acts of corruption: a) a public official demanding or accepting, either directly or indirectly through a third party, any object of pecuniary value such as a gift, offer, a promise or an advantage of any nature, whether for himself or for another person, in exchange for an act or an omission in the discharge of his duties.
- There is an increased understanding in states’ national legislation that any form of gifts to voters, beyond low-value campaign materials, can be considered vote buying.
- Strictly forbidden by law, but rather difficult to prove, is vote buying, i.e. the distribution of goods or money to people combined with the request to vote for a particular candidate or party. This is allegedly common practice in the pre-election period and on election day in some countries, according to international observers. In order to reduce the risk of vote buying on election day, it is important to guarantee the secrecy of the vote. It should also be ensured (and observed) that voters do not leave the polling station without depositing their ballots in the ballot boxes because some voters may try to take blank ballots outside the polling station and give or sell them to other people. As a rule, any unused ballot paper should remain at the polling station. However, in several cases, there were confirmed instances of stamped and signed ballots circulating outside polling stations on election day.
- There is an increased understanding in states’ national legislation that any form of gifts to voters, beyond low-value campaign materials, can be considered vote buying.