Maldives Broadcasting Commission Meets with Commonwealth Election Observer Team

September 4, 2013

Maldives Broadcasting Commission met with the Commonwealth Observer delegation and shared information on the Commission’s role and work carried out related to the Presidential Elections 2013.

The Commonwealth Observer team was briefed about the election coverage workshop for media that was conducted in February 2013 and the drafting of the Guideline on Broadcasting Political Content during Elections which was carried out by the US media expert Ms. Terry Anzur.

The ongoing election related work carried out by the Broadcasting Commission on 3 parallel tracks were also shared with the Commonwealth Observers. The 3 tracks include broadcast content monitoring, fast track adjudication and a final elections related report compilation. The Commission began monitoring 10 TV stations and made request to all functioning broadcasters to submit recordings of content aired during the allocated Direct Access time. The elections related Broadcast Report is to be issued shortly after the elections are concluded.

In the meeting with the 17 Commonwealth Election Observers and Secretariat the Vice President of Broadcasting Commission Abdulla Shujau, Commissioner Mohamed Aslam, Secretary General Noora Ali, Director General Mohamed Nasih, Director Aishath Shaaheen and PR Coordinator Eyman Anwar participated.

Broadcasting Commission shared the English translation of the Broadcasting Code of Practice and the Guideline on Broadcasting Political Content during Election with the Commonwealth Observer team.