The President of the Republic, Michel Aoun, signed this afternoon Decree No. 8813, dated February 18, 2022, to refer to the Parliament a draft law aimed at opening an exceptional additional appropriation in the general budget for 2022 in the budgets of the Ministries of Interior and Municipalities and Foreign Affairs and Emigrants, in order to cover the expenses of the scheduled parliamentary elections scheduled for May 15th.

The appropriation amounts to 320 billion LBP, with 260 billion LBP devoted to the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities and 60 billion LBP to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Emigrants. In its meeting last Tuesday, the Council of Ministers agreed to open this appropriation to cover the costs of the parliamentary elections.

President Aoun also signed Decree No. 8814, dated February 18, 2022, directing the transfer of monies from the general budget reserve to the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities’ budget in the amount of 35 billion LBP to cover the costs of the next parliamentary elections.

President Aoun expressed his hope that “the bill opening the extraordinary additional appropriation, worth 320 billion Lebanese pounds, will be approved as soon as possible in Parliament, so that the Ministry of Interior and Municipalities can complete the necessary procedures to secure the holding of parliamentary elections on time, knowing that Parliament is invited to hold a legislative session at the beginning of next week.”

President Aoun emphasized that “the parliamentary elections would go place on schedule on May 15th,” urging that “rumors about an inclination to postpone them be ignored.”