Ministry of Home Affairs has opened the opportunity for interested individuals to submit their candidacy for the Maldives Media Council (MMC) election.
The home ministry opened the opportunity to replace 13 members whose terms will expire on December 14. They are seven representatives of the media and six representatives of the public. The candidacy forms are available on the ministry's website and the deadline for submissions is October 23.
Furthermore, the ministry amended the registration rules for the MMC election to address concerns over its fairness. Members of MMC are appointed with votes from online media outlets. As per the rules, all registered online media outlets in the Maldives will have the opportunity to vote in the election. The statistics from the home ministry show the number of registered outlets is more than 200.
The amendment dictates that newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters that are not publishing regularly for at least one year prior to the date of announcement of the MMC election will not have the opportunity to participate in the election. As such, newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters registered between the date of the announcement of the election and six months prior to that date are eligible. In addition, the outlets that do not have to register to vote in the elections include newspapers, magazines, and broadcasters registered under the responsibility of state-owned companies and state institutions, except for media outlets under the Public Service Media (PSM).
MMC is legally empowered to regulate online media in the Maldives. The council consists of eight representatives of the media and seven representatives of the public.