"No" votes jump against Wal-Mart's Duke, directors

The officials were targeted by large pension funds and activist groups after allegations its Wal-Mart de Mexico unit bribed officials to expand quickly last decade and that management squelched an internal investigation.

Scott, who was CEO of the world's largest retailer at the time, received the most votes against, 15.65 percent of shares voted, according to Wal-Mart. A total of 13.1 percent voted against Duke, who was president of Wal-Mart International during the investigation, while 12.6 percent voted against Walton.

Audit Committee Chairman Christopher Williams had 13.3 percent of votes cast against him.

"It's a strong vote of no confidence in the leadership and sends a strong message to the board," said Michael Garland, executive director for corporate governance for New York City Comptroller John Liu.

Last year, all candidates received about 98 percent or more votes in favor of re-election, Wal-Mart said.

On Friday, Wal-Mart said all 15 board members were re-elected, a foregone conclusion as the family of founder Sam Walton controls roughly one-half of the company's shares.

Also elected was Marissa Mayer, who ran for the board for the first time, bringing the board up to 16 members.

Wal-Mart has repeatedly said it would not comment on the specific allegations until the investigations are complete.

At the annual meeting on Friday, Duke and Walton stressed they would not stand for unethical behavior.

"If you work for Wal-Mart, there is no gray area between right and wrong. It's either the right thing to do, or it shouldn't be done at all," Duke said.

Wal-Mart shares were up 0.2 percent at $65.70 on Monday and have been trading near their highest levels in 12 years.

(Reporting by Brad Dorfman, Jessica Wohl and Nivedita Bhattacharjee in Chicago; editing by John Wallace and Jeffrey Benkoe)