Another journalist has come forward saying that he has yet to receive a business visa to cover the Maldives presidential election, despite being included in the Elections Commission (EC)’s official list of international observers and monitors.
While the Commission publicized the list on Thursday, a few of the journalists named in the list have since revealed that they have not been granted business visas to enter and cover the election despite ‘being accredited by the Commission’.
On Friday, Simon Sturdee from Agence France-Presse (AFP) tweeted that despite his name being on EC’s list, that he has not been given a visa ‘like other from AFP and many other foreign journalists’.
My name is on this list of "international monitors" for the #Maldives election published by @ElectionsMv. But like others from @AFP and many other foreign journalists, I have not been given a visa
— Simon Sturdee (@simonsturdee) September 21, 2018
Furthermore, Emmanuel Derville from France’s Le Figaro- also on the list- revealed that he will not be traveling to Maldives to cover the election as well.
“Contrary to what the press release of Elections Commission says, unfortunately I won’t be able to visit Maldives and monitor the election as Le Fargo was asked to pay USD 1,500 to a local agent recommended by the EC for the visa procedure to be initiated,” Derville tweeted on Friday, adding that they were also refused an interview with President Abdulla Yameen given ‘his schedule’.
Contrary to what the press release of @ElectionsMv says, unfortunately I won't be able to visit Maldives & monitor the election as Le Figaro was asked to pay 1500 US$ to a local agent recommended by the EC for the visa procedure to be initiated @MDPSecretariat @IndependentMV
— Emmanuel Derville (@e_derville) September 21, 2018
Other journalists that have come forward since the publication of the list include, The Wire’s Devirupa Mitra, Amitabh P.Revi and Parul Chandra from Strategic News International (SNI), Dipanjan R. Chaudhury from Economic Times, Sidhant Sibal from WIONews and Meera Srinivasan from The Hindu.
In addition, election observers group the Asian Network for Free Elections (ANFREL) has had the same issue as well.
“We can confirm that at this time, none of ANFREL’s observers have received the necessary visa to be present in the Maldives for the September 23 presidential election, despite the Maldivian Elections Commission formally listing us as international observers”, said ANFREL.
However, according to EC’s list five from ANFREL will be observing Sunday’s election.
Back in August, Maldives Immigration said that business visas will be granted to those that hold the required permit from the Commission.
With the publication of the list, it is confirmed that the European Union and United Nations will not be sending officials to observe the elections.
