‘Up to $500 per vote in some areas in municipal elections,’ State Security source says

After the second round of municipal elections in Lebanon took place, for the first time in nine years, bribery was on the rise, and is “unprecedented compared to previous years [of municipal elections]. Some people arrested were getting paid up to $500 for the vote," a source at State Security told L’Orient Today.“We’ve been given orders to turn a blind eye to bribery in municipal elections," the State Security Source said, however, the Interior Ministry denied those claims to L'Orient Today. Read also: When will newly elected municipal officials take office? “The Interior Minister [Bassam al-Hajjar] and the Prime Minister [Nawaf Salam] were very clear. Bribery will not be tolerated, and action has been taken against those involved in bribery.”The Interior Ministry announced Monday that it had received a total of 675 complaints and...