  $O(\alpha_s)$ QCD corrections to the inclusive $B \to X_s e^+ e^-$ decay are
investigated within the two - Higgs doublet extension of the standard model
(2HDM). The analysis is performed in the so - called off-resonance region; the
dependence of the obtained results on the choice of the renormalization scale
is examined in details. It is shown that $O(\alpha_s)$ corrections can suppress
the $B \to X_s e^+ e^-$ decay width up to $1.5 \div 3$ times (depending on the
choice of the dilepton invariant mass $s$ and the low - energy scale $\mu$). As
a result, in the experimentally allowed range of the parameters space, the
relations between the $B \to X_s e^+ e^-$ branching ratio and the new physics
parameters are strongly affected. It is found also that though the
renormalization scale dependence of the $B \to X_s e^+ e^-$ branching is
significantly reduced, higher order effects in the perturbation theory can
still be nonnegligible.
