PM urges voters to turn out

He said the majority of voters should decide on whether to accept the new charter and that the decision should not lie in the hands of a small number of people. 

He said this principle should also be applied to the general elections, as he wanted all eligible voters to be able to exercise their balloting right. 

“You are the ones who can make changes to the country. You have to come out in great numbers,” he said.

Prayut was speaking at Government House, where he gave a 45-minute speech at the end of the post-coup government’s announcement of its achievements a year after taking over. The speech was broadcast live on state-run NBT television.

Prayut said he would have to take responsibility if the draft charter, now being composed by the Constitution Drafting Committee, fails to pass the plebiscite. However, he would not elaborate. 

He also maintained that his government had only 18 months left, based on the road map for returning to democracy, though he said he might step down earlier if he is told to do so. 

“They are still bickering badly. If you want me to stop, I will go home and let them keep fighting each other,” he said, referring to the political conflict between rival groups.

Prayut said that to attain reconciliation, people who have violated the law must undergo the justice process, adding that the next government would be responsible of taking care of these cases. 

He said there would be no leniency for those whose law violations were political in nature. 

“We have given them a lot of time already,” he said, adding that certain politicians failed to show their sincerity about entering the justice process. For example, he said, some politicians sought to have more defence witnesses, but some of their existing suspects failed to show up for trial.

Prayut also said he did not think his government should be held responsible for the low prices paid for the poor-quality rice in government stocks that had to be auctioned off for industrial use. He said this in response to criticism that the government failed to secure good prices for rice that was purchased under the last elected government’s rice-pledging scheme.

“We will sell all the bad rice and keep the good rice. They will have to take responsibility because they started this project,” he said, clearly referring to the last government. 

In his speech before a gathering of Cabinet members and bureaucrats, the PM said the different ministries had to work together more efficiently for the remaining 18 months of his government, adding: “After that we have no chance.”

The PM said his government would do its best for the remainder of its time in power, and let the next administration pick up where it leaves off. 

He complained that he was doing his job in order to ease people’s sufferings, but that he had been unfairly criticised by some media.