Election posters to be cleared from Amman streets ‘within week’ — GAM

AMMAN — Election campaign posters and banners must be removed from Amman’s streets and squares within a week of Tuesday’s vote, a municipal official said on Monday. 

Candidates running in the 18th parliamentary elections must start taking down their campaign material as soon as possible after polls close on Tuesday, said Yousef Dalabih, environment executive director at the Greater Amman Municipality (GAM). 

“Once voting ends at 6pm, unless the voting time is extended, candidates must start taking down all of their posters,” Dalabih told The Jordan Times.

The municipality will give candidates a grace period of 24 hours to remove all of their posters, after which GAM officers will start taking them down, he added. 

“The capital must be cleaned up from all campaigning posters within a week after elections end,” Dalabih said.

GAM required every list to sign a pledge and deposit JD2,000 to guarantee compliance with the regulations.

“If the candidates fail to abide by the regulations or don’t remove their posters within 24 hours after the elections end, the municipality will confiscate the deposits,” Dalabih underscored.

Since campaigning began last month, GAM has intensified inspections to stop campaign posters from jeopardising public safety, according to Dalabih, who said that GAM had removed posters that obstructed road visibility, pedestrians or traffic.

Some 1,290 candidates are competing for the 130-seat Lower House.

Dalabih said in previous remarks to The Jordan Times that all of the advertising materials would be dumped at two landfills for debris and wood in Zarqa’s Ruseifa and Beidah in east Amman.