Return power to the people, Pheu Thai tells junta

In a statement, the previously ruling party warned that any further delay in the next election would significantly impact Thailand’s credibility in the eyes of the international community.
“We call on the relevant agencies to stop harming the country through this legal cheating. And they have to speed up the return of power to the people, as stated in the road map,” Pheu Thai said in the statement released on Wednesday.
The party noted that Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, who also heads the ruling junta, had clearly informed the world community that the election would take place in November this year.
Its move came after the committee vetting the MP election bill sought to stay the enforcement of the key legislation for 90 days after it is promulgated, instead of the day after its enactment.
Pheu Thai said that it suspected the vetting committee’s decision was politically motivated, with the hidden goal of allowing the people in power to extend their time in office.
It said the ruling junta, the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), and its organs had used “legal tactics” on many occasions that aroused suspicions that they wanted to stay on in power. The statement pointed to the National Reform Council’s vote against the first constitutional draft as an example of such alleged tactics.
“The NCPO and its organs have tried every means – through their powers and the laws that they create, and also through orders issued by the NCPO head – to gain political advantages for themselves and the political groups that support the NCPO,” Pheu Thai said.
Pheu Thai noted that even after the organic law on political parties became effective, the junta had not lifted its ban on political activities. Instead, the junta issued a new order last month that was viewed as undermining the existing political parties while favouring new ones to be set up in support of the junta, the party said.
It said that with a postponement in the election law’s enactment, existing political parties would still be banned from holding activities such as convening meetings. However, it added that, as a result, the junta and its organs such as the National Legislative Assembly would stay in power longer.