President Abdulla Yameen has nominated a journalist of pro-government TV station Channel 13 to the Maldives Broadcasting Commission (Broadcom).

Amjad Waheed and five others were nominated after the broadcast regulator’s vice president Mohamed Aslam ended his term on March 13.

Other names sent to parliament include Aslam, Mohamed Shameem, Mohamed Sauzam, and Majud Rasheed.

Parliament approved Amjad for committee evaluation on Wednesday’s sitting with 36 votes. Opposition MPs have continued to boycott the sittings.

Broadcom has a total of seven seats which are now occupied by its president Mohamed Shaheeb,  Zeena Zahir, Hassan Nabah, Saraahath Izzath, Fathimath Zaina, and Ismail Safwan.

While Broadcom is an independent commission tasked with upholding broadcasting standards, it has faced public criticism for targeting journalists and TV stations critical of President Abdulla Yameen’s controversial rule.

Broadcom has penalized the country’s most watched channel RaajjeTV three separate times with fines totaling MVR 1.7m. Recently, VTV was fined MVR 400,000.

Some of the members previously worked at First Lady Fathimath Ibrahim’s office, and one member has been outed as an event organizer for President Yameen.