Donald Trump has been accused of attempting electoral bribery after promising every American voter $5,000 if the Republicans triumph in the 2026 midterms. The US president explained his plan during his speech at the Republican midterm convention in Texas on Wednesday, saying: “If the Republicans win, you win with us, and you get $5,000. Few details have been released of the plan, or how it would be funded, although NBC News' White House correspondent Ryan Nobles declared on live television that it would be “absolutely impossible” as it would cost “over a trillion dollars”.
Professor Elizabeth David-Barrett, who runs the Centre for the Study of Corruption at the University of Sussex, said it was “very blatant attempt to incentivise people to vote for the Republicans”. This is slightly different because it's a promise of what people would get after a result. Here are the other countries where leaders have offered money or gifts in return for votes.
Although Viktor Orban is no longer in charge of Hungary’s government, in the 16 years he was in power, vote buying was observed as happening at a local level, according to Professor David-Barrett. An incumbent running for a seat in Java’s house of representatives had a list that contained 320,000 names, according to a study by the University of Cambridge. Serious district-level candidates, who needed to secure a much smaller total vote, typically compiled lists of between 10,000 and 30,000 names to be “recruited”.
Researchers said that as voting day approached, multiple envelopes from different candidates might circulate in a single village containing up to 50,000 rupiah (£2.10). Some candidates would make a one-off payment while others made it in two tranches: a down payment and a second instalment close to voting day. In the district of Pati, one candidate - a major rice wholesaler - was famous for distributing packets of rice alongside cash.
During the 2018 elections in Russia, where Vladimir Putin was voted in for a fourth term with an overwhelming 77.53 per cent of the vote, government employees, as well as workers as private companies, reportedly came under pressure to vote. International monitors widely regarded the election as a sham. One Moscow-based company said it would provide free cinema tickets to any employees who voted, as well as their friends and family, according to The Guardian.
We expect vote coordinators to provide information every 90 minutes in order to allow time for reports to be drawn up,” an email reportedly read. Prior to this, election season was marked in the rural north east of Japan with free meals for voters who dropped by campaign headquarters and free-flowing sake, according to the Los Angeles Times. Some voters even received cash up to 60,000 yen (£288) in envelopes slipped under their doors.
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