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ELECTIONS 2022

Interior minister says EDL will provide $16 million worth of power during elections

Interior minister says EDL will provide $16 million worth of power during elections

Electricité du Liban in Beirut, April 3 2021. (Anwar Amro/AFP, Archive)

BEIRUT — State electricity provider Electricité du Liban (EDL) will provide $16 million worth of electricity during the legislative elections, which is a 30 percent overrun of the electoral budget, announced Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi.

Here’s what we know:

    • The electricity sector in Lebanon is accused of being plagued by corruption. Poor management of EDL has cost the public treasury more than $40 billion — equivalent to half of the Lebanese public debt — since the end of the Civil War (1975-1990).

    • “We are currently working to provide electricity to polling stations and registration stations,” Mawlawi told AFP on Thursday. According to him, EDL has asked for $16.2 million to provide power on May 15, the date of the legislative elections, whereas the allocated budget is only $12.5 million dollars.

    • Mawlawi insisted that the government is working to ensure that the legislative elections go ahead as planned, “despite persistent rumors that they could be canceled.” The Interior Ministry is looking for alternatives to EDL, such as private generators, to ensure electricity supply, he said.

    • Lebanese, Syrian and Jordanian officials signed documents last January, consolidating a deal under which Jordan will supply electricity to Lebanon by way of Syria, but key details, including the financing of the plan, are still in question.

    • On Friday morning, demonstrators entered the premises of the Energy Ministry and tore up a portrait of the President Michel Aoun, in protest against 22 hours of electricity cuts per day, a video circulating on social media shows.

BEIRUT — State electricity provider Electricité du Liban (EDL) will provide $16 million worth of electricity during the legislative elections, which is a 30 percent overrun of the electoral budget, announced Interior Minister Bassam Mawlawi.Here’s what we know:    • The electricity sector in Lebanon is accused of being plagued by corruption. Poor management of EDL has cost the...