The Government of Japan extended grant to Nepal to hold the CA elections. "A grant up to one hundred and forty-nine million Japanese Yen (¥149,000,000), equivalent to one hundred and forty-two million, one hundred and forty-six thousand Nepalese rupees (NRs.142,146,000), for the Execution of the Project for Assistance to the Constituent Assembly Election upon the request made by the Government of Nepal,"   says Japanese Embassy in its press release.

This grant assistance will be used for the procurement of election related materials for the Constituent Assembly (CA) Election such as security seals, ballot-box stickers and others.The Notes to this effect were signed and exchanged between Kunio TAKAHASHI, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, and Shanta Raj Subedi, Secretary, Ministry of Finance, on behalf of their respective Governments, on 24 July 2013 at the Ministry of Finance, Nepal. 

According to a press release of Japanese Embassy, investing in the peace initiative and democracy has always been one of the three pillars of the development cooperation of Japan to Nepal. In this context, Japan, as a development partner and a well wisher of Nepal, has always been strongly supportive of the establishment of democracy in Nepal.  After the more than a decade long conflict, the Constituent Assembly (CA) Election in Nepal, which was a national historic turning point, is going to take place for the second time on November 19, 2013 with the strong commitment of the Interim Election Government.  It is expected that the Election Commission Nepal (ECN) will be fully supported by all the people of Nepal, as well as the political parties, for its success to fulfill Nepali people’s aspirations for democracy, peace and stability in the country.

As an update, the Government of Japan extended a Grant Assistance of approximately one hundred and fifty million Japanese Yen (¥150,000,000) in Japan's Fiscal Year 2006 under the Non-Project Grant Aid to procure ballot boxes, lids, security seals, stickers for the boxes and training on the Japanese Electoral System for the 2008 CA Election. In addition, the Government of Japan provided 25 servers and training for ECN’s IT related personnel in 2012 and 50 servers in 2013 through the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) to enhance the voters’ database management capacity of ECN for fair and free election results.  The servers were intended to communicate information electronically among the elected officials quickly and efficiently with very little error.  The assistance provided in 2013 also includes ten solar panels for emergency energy backup to run the Election Commission Offices in ten districts where there is no regular supply of electricity. 

Kunio Takahashi, Ambassador of Japan to Nepal, reiterated that Japan expects the successful CA Election to bring peace and political stability to Nepal.  He concluded with the remarks that the support to ECN will be a milestone in strengthening the lasting bonds of friendship between the two countries in the days to come.