Thailand's Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha (Photo: Reuters)Hanoi (VNA) – Thailand’s general election needsto be delay until 2018 to allow time to pass necessary laws, said a member ofthe National Legislative Assembly (NLA) on January 2.
According to Somjet Booonthanom, the election would likelybe postponed until March or April 2018 due to intricacies related to drafting electionlaws.
Meanwhile, Major General Sansern Kaewkamnerd, thespokesperson of the Prime Minister’s Office, said the election will be heldlater this year as set in its roadmap. He also stressed that the NLA’s opinionsare their own.
According to regulations in a new Constitution approved in areferendum in last August, ten new acts have to be completed in eight monthsafter the new Constitution is issued. Since these acts are accomplished, thenew government is able to announce a general election in the next five months.
In last November, Prawit Wongsuwan, Deputy Prime Ministerand Minister of National Defence, mentioned the possibility of delaying thegeneral election if the event is harmful to the national interests.
Meanwhile, General Chlermchai Sittisart, Commander of theThai Royal Army, said on January 2 in an interview with local media thatmilitary coups were the past.
There will be no coup, confirmed by the army chief, addingthat the military has learned from what happened in the past.
The Thai military has carried out 12 successful coups in thelast eight decades.
The latest coup was in2014 when the then-army chief Prayut Chan-o-cha (now Prime Minister) toppledYingluck Shinawatra’s administration only two days after declaring martial law.-VNA
