The former Secretary General of the now-dissolved Maldives Media Council (MMC), Mohamed Farushath, has been approved as the Chairperson of the new Maldives Media and Broadcasting Commission.

The parliament approved him for the position with 49 votes in favour and nine against.

According to the recently passed law to dismantle free media in the Maldives, three of the seven members of the commission and the Chairperson of the commission will be appointed by the parliament.

The former President of the now-dissolved Maldives Broadcasting Commission (Broadcom) Safa Shafeeq, former Broadcom member Aminath Sarahath and Farushath were selected to the new commission.

Four members of the Control Commission have already been elected without a vote because of the low support from the journalist community.

They are former MMC President Hussain Sageef, Vaguthu journalist Simaha Naseem, former Broadcom member Zam'ath Waheed and Abdul Azeez Ibrahim.

The commission consists of seven members. While the four members representing the media were elected without a vote, the other three members were appointed by the parliament, which is controlled by President Mohamed Muizzu.

Most media outlets have rejected the commission, and there was no support or interest among journalists to compete for the commission membership.

The local journalist community and the international community have called on the government to repeal the restrictive media control law.