Commonwealth Expert visiting Maldives to revise Elections law meets Broadcasting Commission members

March 3, 2013

Commonwealth expert who is visiting Maldives to revise the elections law met members of Maldives Broadcasting Commission today.

Mr. John Turner, Chief Executive of Association of Electoral Administration is in the Maldives to assess the preparedness for this year’s election. His visit to the Broadcasting Commission was to gather information on the role of the Commission in the election process.

Mr. Tuner was given a brief introduction of the Commission’s work and also information on the undertakings by the Commission to prepare for this year’s elections. Areas highlighted in the update include the elections coverage training carried out by the Commission with assistance from the US Embassy in January 2013. This training program conducted for journalists focused on how to cover elections in a free and fair manner. In addition an elections coverage guideline for broadcasters has been formulated by the American media expert who conducted the training. This guideline is been translated to be shared with broadcasters before it is finalized by the Commission.

President of the Commission Mohamed Shahyb highlighted the challenges to the Commission. According to Shahyb, the main difficulties are technical challenges in monitoring and budget constraints. He also said that Commission has started to analyze the election laws in order to work together with the Election Commission on issues related to broadcasters.

In addition to the President of the Commission, Vice President, Abdullah Shujau, Commissioner Ibrahim Ashraf, Moomina Adam, Mariyam Shaugy, Secretary General, Noora Ali and Director, Planning and Projects Aishath Shahyn attended the meeting.