190 media will vote in the upcoming Media Commission election

A total of 190 media outlets have registered for the upcoming election to select members of the Media Regulations Commission.

Elections Commission (EC) announced that 190 outlets from broadcasters and other media had applied to register for Saturday's vote before the deadline expired at midnight last night.

Of the 353 media outlets eligible to vote in the Media Commission election, 53 percent have registered. The Media and Broadcasting Commission will be composed of seven members. Three members will be appointed by the Parliament, and the remaining four will be elected by a vote among registered media outlets.

The current registration process is for the election of those four members. Six candidates contested the four available seats.

Elections Commission noted that the number of registered voters for this election is higher than in the last one. In the June 21 election to elect three members of the Maldives Media Council (MMC), only 73 out of 313 eligible media outlets registered to vote.

For the seats representing broadcasters, three of the four candidates were accepted, while one was rejected. One of the three accepted candidates later withdrew, meaning the remaining two candidates were elected without a vote.

Elections Commission further stated that two candidates had submitted forms for the posts representing other media outlets. One was accepted and the other was rejected. It has come to light that the candidacy was rejected because the candidate's name was listed as an editor of a media outlet.

Consequently, the commission has decided that one member representing other media outlets has been elected without an election. The remaining two slots are still open for applications.

The passage of the law establishing the Media Commission occurred in Parliament amidst protests by journalists.

The main concern among journalists is that the government system heavily regulates journalism. Journalists argue that the fact that Parliament appoints three members and can remove all commission members is a significant problem.