Praise be to Allah.
Voting for someone is a kind of testimony and praise, so the vote should be based on truth, which can only be based on knowing the person and the field in which he is competing, and whether he deserves to be given precedence over someone else.
As for voting for someone whom you do not know, and you do not know anything about his work, let alone whether he deserves to be promoted, that is not permissible; it is a betrayal of trust, giving false testimony, and deceiving the organization that is asking people to vote. In most cases the motivation for doing that is a kind of tribal feeling for a country or race. All of that is blameworthy and leads to giving promotion to those who do not deserve it.
Al-Bukhaari (5976) and Muslim (87) narrated that Abu Bakrah (may Allah be pleased with him) said: The Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Shall I not tell you of the worst of major sins?” We said: Yes, O Messenger of Allah. He said: “Associating others with Allah, defiantly disobeying one’s parents –” he was lying down, but he sat up and said: “and false speech and bearing false witness, and false speech and bearing false witness” – and he kept on saying it until I thought that he never fall silent. [This was out of compassion, for fear that he would exhaust himself in his fervour].
And the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) said: “Whoever deceives us is not one of us.” Narrated by Muslim in his Saheeh, no. 101.
Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Rahmaan al-Barraak (may Allah preserve him) was asked: Some sisters send messages asking us to vote for their relatives who are taking part in a competition for work. They ask us to vote, when we have not seen his work and are not present at the competition.
He replied: No, it is wrong. If you vote for him and support him, and say such and such, then you are speaking untruthfully, and you are lying.
End quote from the shaykh’s website.
And Allah knows best.
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