KATHMANDU, Mar 12, 2009 (Xinhua via COMTEX News Network) -- Nepali Election Commission (EC) has made public its five-year strategic plan-2009 with the aim of holding free, fair, democratic, transparent and inclusive elections in the future.
According to Friday's The Rising Nepal, the commission has prepared the strategic plan by learning from weaknesses and successes of the past elections, especially the April 10 Constituent Assembly (CA) elections, held last year. It is widely appreciated for the success of the CA elections.
The commission prepared the strategic plan by conducting a post- election assessment after the 2008 CA election and it incorporated the suggestions from all stakeholders from district to central levels, acting chief election commissioner Nil Kantha Uprety said at an interaction on the "Election Commission Strategic Plan-2009" organized by the commission Thursday.
The strategic plan was prepared with a vision that all people could participate in the election and in holding the election within a short span of time from its announcement, Uprety said.
According to the daily, the strategic plan includes: using electronic voting machines, accessibility of wheel-chair to the voting centers, managing mobile voting system in the hospitals and elderly citizen center, conducting study to include the votes of non-residents Nepalese, issuing the voters' identity cards with their photos and to achieve participation of two thirds of population in the voting.
The commission has estimated around 35 million U.S. dollars to implement the strategic plan-2009.