The system of employing and promoting civil servants who are friends and supporters of the group in power WordNet 3.0 & Open English WordNet

In politics and government, a spoils system is a practice in which a political party, after winning an election, gives government jobs to its supporters, friends, and relatives as a reward for working toward victory, and as an incentive to keep working for the party—as opposed to a merit system, where offices are awarded on the basis of some measure of merit, independent of political activity. Wikipedia

Practice where a newly elected political party gives civil service jobs to supporters and cronies Wikidata