October 8 will go down in history as the first multi-party election day in Maldives. My friends at TVM are providing wall to wall coverage, and CEO Ali Khalid says they have won praise for providing coverage that is more fair and balanced than that of the competing private stations. Well done!
One reporter last night told me optimistically that they would know the results shortly after the polls closed. But it's not going to be that easy. There are numerous allegations of fraud and irregularities with the voting lists, particularly on the atolls where island chiefs have discarded the official list and substituted their own. Others have complained that the ink marks used to identify those who have voted can be easily washed off.
At this moment, it looks like a close race between incumbent President Gayoom and opposition leader Anni, with independent candidate Hassan Saeed in 3rd place. However, no one has a majority in the early returns. It's anybody's guess at this point how it will all turn out. It is frustrating not to be able to watch the election coverage, but my thoughts and prayers are with the journalists that they will stick to their responsibility to tell the truth, no matter what happens.
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2 comments:
You need to have a second thought if you say that the media is not going to be biased and will show the actual facts.
U knw what has been going on in maldives from past so many years.
It has been a living example of DICTATORSHIP..well i am a journalist too. So don't have to tell me much about the fair political reporting.
Thanks for your comment. Until the Maldives Media Training Program began this year, the opposition was NEVER shown or heard on the state-run TV Maldives and Voice of Maldives. I sat in a dark room with opposition leaders who didn't believe they would ever be heard. Six months later, I witnessed the same opposition leaders signing the fair coverage agreement and appearing on the air for their daily free airtime. That is HUGE progress, and the fact that this led to the election of a former political prisoner as president is proof that independent media coverage CAN make a difference.
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