❊ And the Winner From the Electricity Law Is …

To read today’s newspaper headlines about the electricity law that has passed yesterday is to get confused about the political significance of the event.

Almustaqbal headlined: “Aoun gives in: Electricity Now in the Hands of Government”. Assafir wrote: “Mikati Bumps his Fist on the Table and Demands that Bassil Adopts his Adjusted Plan”. Oddly and uncharacteristically, Al-Akhbar’s headline was the least deceptive of the bunch: “The Lights are on, General”.

In essence, what March 14’s media (and the Mikati-promoters) are saying is this: Aoun didn’t get exactly what he wanted. They portray this as some sort of a loss for Mr. Aoun and the FPM, while the reality couldn’t be any different.

As I argued before, the most valuable currency in Lebanese politics is getting things done. The politicking over bare-knuckle methods and dirty tricks misses the Lebanese big picture: To the man on the street, the public enemy #1 is government gridlock and inaction. If the FPM becomes the party that got Lebanon fast internet and 24 hour electricity (an admittedly very premature prediction), they will become “the party that gets things done”. Don’t underestimate the importance of that.

Of course, things are not all milk and honey for the FPM, for two reasons:

• Implementation can go horribly wrong, and the story becomes about how the FPM stole $5B and didn’t give the Lebanese anything in return
• FPM succession is a train crash waiting to happen. There are already internal resentments from the very large role the Mr. Gebran Bassil is been given. Getting him in charge of astronomical sums of money can only increase the potential future infighting in the party.

But if one was to take one thing out of this whole saga, it is that M.P. Michel Aoun put back the issue of electricity on the table and got the ball rolling. And for that he’s today’s biggest winner.