A billboard that displays picture of candidates for Lebanon's upcoming legislative elections is seen on the street. (Xinhua photo)

by Salah Takieddine

BEIRUT, April 13 (Xinhua) -- As Lebanon's legislative elections loom, workers are seen busy hanging posters and banners of candidates, which boost the advertising market amid economic recession.

Huge electronic billboards that display pictures of candidates and their electoral slogans are set up on the main streets and at the entrance of villages and towns, overwhelming other commercials and touristic advertisements.

Fares Abou Smaili, an advertising agency owner told Xinhua that "the demand on billboards has increased tremendously to the extent that we were unable to meet all the requests."

Hamed Al-Ali, a billboard foreman, said "we found ourselves all of a sudden with flooding business."

He explained to Xinhua "we are now working between 15 and 18 hours daily so we can meet all the demands which generated good profits and led us to hire more workers."

Jaber Abou Sada, a worker in a printing house, said the competition between candidates doubled their working hours.

A billboard that displays picture of candidates for Lebanon's upcoming legislative elections is seen on the street. (Xinhua photo)

So did the business for Hassan Abou Daoud, an iron trader who explained that the demand increased since two months ago on the iron pods used for the billboards.

Abou Daoud told Xinhua "these elections caused an increase in the business of almost every trade sector in the country."

Georges Abou Kassam, an advertising agency manager said "the rich candidates normally advertise for a whole month while others book their billboards for two weeks."

A billboard that displays picture of candidates for Lebanon's upcoming legislative elections is seen on the street. (Xinhua photo)

Abou Kassam added "the cost of one advertisement ranges between 200 U.S. dollars and 500 dollars daily and this figure depends on the number of billboards and the duration of the campaign."

The elections, due on May 6, is the first elections organized in Lebanon in nine years. The current parliament term, which should originally end in 2013, was extended three times.