Media Association seeks to have elections

21 September 2007
Report: Soodh

Maldives Media Association may have had two unsuccessful attempts to have election of the executive committee, but the chief spokesman Ali Siraj says that pipeline works are underway to have the elections within the next two months.

Two separate ceremonies will be held to open the candidates to compete in the elections and for allowing the candidates to campaign for the elections. These arrangements are expected to be completed before the end of Ramazan.

Elections dates are not confirmed yet, however, it is planned to conduct after Eid holidays. More than 489 membership applications have so far been submitted, and some applications are in the process of verification.

All members registered before the 27 of this month will be eligible to vote in the elections. The Association has also welcomed any valuable ideas from all members in order to make it a successful one.

Siraj also noted that the association would be organizing some activities during the upcoming days in order to raise funds.

Earlier, Ministry of Information and Arts has expressed its concerns about the progress of the Media Association. In a news release issued, the Ministry has indicated that though it is not directly responsible for the Media Association, it has an interest to see that the Association succeeds and elections are conducted smoothly for the Executive Committee.

In this respect the Ministry has noted that since the inception of the Association on the 2nd of October 2006, the Ministry has been following the work towards the elections, and helping to overcome hurdles. Disagreements have arisen about the procedure for electing members for the Media Association posts in the past two attempts.

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