Thailand’s Junta Delays Elections – Again

Elections in Thailand won’t take place for another year because the military government needs more time to iron out a new constitution that requires the king’s signature, a deputy prime minister revealed Wednesday.

The postponement marks at least the fourth time the junta has pushed back elections since the military seized power in a bloodless coup in May 2014. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha has repeatedly promised that polls would happen as part of a “roadmap” putting Thailand back on a democratic path.

In a testy exchange with reporters in Bangkok on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Kreau-ngam repeated that polls would take place about one year from now.

“There will be about one year to the elections, but don’t count 365 days exactly,” the deputy prime minister said.

Wissanu was responding to questions from reporters following a talk he gave on Tuesday evening about Thai legal reforms.

“[T]he elections will not take place shortly. It will take at least a year,” he said then, according to reports.

Elections will have to wait, he told the audience, because of amendments being made to a junta-backed constitution that Thais approved in a referendum last year, Wissanu said.

“We have so many issues that must be done immediately,” he added, referring to proposed amendments to the new constitution that “require feedback from stakeholders.”

Full story: BenarNews

Nontarat Phaicharoen
Bangkok