BEIRUT (Archyde.com) – Lebanon’s Communications Minister Johnny Corm told Archyde.com following a cabinet meeting on Tuesday that the government had agreed to allocate 360 billion Lebanese pounds ($18 million) for holding parliamentary elections.
Lebanon slipped into a financial crisis in 2019, and officials raised concerns that the elections might be postponed due to financial constraints.
Speaking following the cabinet session, Acting Information Minister Abbas al-Halabi quoted Prime Minister Najib Mikati as saying that the last elections in 2018 cost the state $54 million, but that much less is now available.
The United Nations and Western governments have repeatedly urged Lebanese leaders to hold elections on time and allocate adequate funding, amid concerns that powerful political parties may seek to use the financial crisis as an excuse to postpone the polls.
The elections scheduled for mid-May will be the first for the 128-member legislature since mass protests in October 2019 to denounce political elites widely seen as responsible for decades of corruption and mismanagement.
A statement issued by the United Nations stated that the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Joanna and Ronika, stressed earlier on Tuesday “the importance of holding the elections on time.”
“I hope that the cabinet will approve the election budget…so that preparations can proceed quickly and no ambiguity overshadows the elections,” Wronika said, according to the statement.
