No Thai elections for a year
May 30, 2014
Speaking in a nationally televised address more than a week after the military seized power, the army commander, General Prayuth Chan-ocha on Friday laid out his plans for running the country until civilian rule is restored.
Prayuth said it would take at least two to three months to achieve reconciliation in the country, which has been deeply politically divided for years. He said it would take about a year to draw up a new constitution and put an interim government in place. Only when these steps are completed, he said, would the country be ready to go to the polls.
However, he did pledge that civilian rule would be restored.
"Give us time to solve the problems for you. Then the soldiers will step back to look at Thailand from afar," he said.
Prayuth though, also warned against renewed protests, saying this would slow its progress.
Critics silenced
Since the Thai military seized power on May 22, the army hasmoved to silence its critics, arresting more than 250 people, including members of the government it ousted, other politicians, activists, scholars and journalists. Around 70 remain under arrest.
Shortly after staging the coup, Prayuth said the military had acted to halt months of political turmoil as opposition supporters staged mass protests demanding the ouster of the government of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinwatra. Around 30 people were killed in the protests, which at times turned violent. Just weeks before the coup, Yingluck had been forced out of office after a court found her guilty of abuse of power.
In Friday's speech, Prayuth again defended the decision to launch the coup, saying the unrest had left the government unable to "performs its duties effectively."
Thailand has been wracked by an ongoing political crisis since a military coup in 2006 that deposed Yingluck's billionaire elder brother Thaksin Shinawatra, who has been living for years in self-imposed exile to avoid arrest over a corruption conviction. The opposition regard Yingluck as a puppet of her brother.
pfd/dr (AP,AFP)