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The Progress Singapore Party (PSP) has been ordered to take down 50 of its election posters by the Elections Department Singapore (ELD).

Ordered to take down posters

PSP first shared a video to its PSP West Coast Facebook page on the night of July 2, stating that they were "forced" to take down the posters by West Coast Town Council.

In a subsequent update, they revealed that the town council had made a report to ELD, which was the one that delivered the order to take down the poster.

"Hours of hard work went down the drain," the party said.

Additionally, PSP claimed that the People's Action Party (PAP) posters were left untouched on the lamp posts, which they described as "puzzling".

In their caption, PSP thanked supporters for their words of encouragement, and stated that the party would continue to fight on despite the obstacles.

The video they shared has since gone extremely viral, garnering over 2,300 shares over the night.

PSP Secretary-General Tan Cheng Bock posted a brief clip to his Instagram mentioning the incident as well.

All political parties required to take down posters

In response to queries by Mothership, ELD stated that they had checked with West Coast TC, which is the premise owner/ occupier where the lamp posts with the affixed posters are located.

The TC had asked for the posters to be removed due to public safety reasons.

This is because the posters were put up on open space lamp posts where a high volume traffic is expected.

ELD clarified that all political parties have since removed their posters from the lamp posts.

This is ELD's full statement:

"Under the law, political parties and candidates are required to seek consent from premises owners/occupiers for posters and banners to be put up. In this case, ELD checked with West Coast Town Council, which is the premises owner/occupier where the said lamp posts are located. West Coast Town Council asked for the posters to be removed for public safety reasons, as they were affixed to open space lamp posts where high volume of traffic was expected. Both political parties i.e. PAP and PSP have since removed their posters from these lamp posts."

According to ELD's Candidate Handbook for GE2020, posters can be hung on lamp posts and trees along public roads.

Posters must not infringe any of the following safety guidelines:

• Must not cause any obstruction to pedestrian movement and traffic view of oncoming vehicles if placed near junctions.
• Must have a height clearance of at least 2.2 metres when placed on lamp posts on/near footpaths and at least 0.6 metres away from the road kerb.
• Must not obstruct any other existing banners, traffic signs, cameras or any other related road infrastructure.

Top photo from PSP West Coast / FB