Thread: Elections to be delayed until 2016

(Reuters) - A Thai general election planned for next year will be delayed until 2016, a deputy prime minister said on Thursday, pushing back the promised return to democracy.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha, who led a military coup in May, had previously hinted at a delay to polls promised for late 2015.

Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, who is also defense minister, said elections will take place in 2016, citing groups opposed to the junta, or National Council for Peace and Order, as it is formally known, as one reason for the delay.

"We will be able to organize elections around the start of 2016 once the constitution is drafted," Prawit told reporters.

"Right now there are elements opposed to the National Council for Peace and Order."

Prayuth has outlined a year of reforms that are partly aimed at ending the political influence of former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The army has said the May coup was necessary to avoid further bloodshed after months of sometimes violent protests that helped oust Thaksin's sister, former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

The military scrapped the constitution shortly after it took power and has appointed a committee to draft a new one.

Last week, the government said martial law, which the army imposed days before it took power, will not be lifted for the foreseeable future, despite an earlier pledge to lift the law in some provinces to help the tourism sector which has struggled since the coup.

Thailand plunged into political crisis almost a decade ago following the ouster of Thaksin, a former telecoms tycoon who upset the establishment with populist policies that won him votes in Thailand's agrarian heartland.

Thailand has been broadly split ever since between his supporters and detractors.

Prawit appealed for understanding over the delayed polls.

"We are not asking for much. Just a year to resolve past problems."

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said this week that Thailand had "fallen into an apparently bottomless pit".

"Six months after the coup, criticism is systematically prosecuted, political activity is banned, media is censored, and dissidents are tried in military courts," it said.

Thai election pushed back to 2016: deputy PM | Reuters

No surprise.....delay, delay, delay.

Obviously military not raked it in enough yet.

Originally Posted by Warrior

"...citing groups opposed to the junta ... as one reason for the delay..."

555 Are you in charge, or what Mr General? Over 80% of the population is happy with you, as you like us to believe. That leaves only a very small percentage that is actually actively opposing you... and you can not handle that? What a mess.
Better you work on such important programs as student dormitory laws.

Or the arrest and confinement of high ranking police taking in billions illegally. You all seem to over look anything positive from this administration.

The Nation
November 27, 2014

National elections could be delayed and not take place for another 18 months, Finance Minister Sommai Phasee told the BBC in an exclusive interview.

The Prayut Chanocha government discussed the election last week, Sommai said, adding that it could be "a year and a half."

Prayuth had earlier said that it was likely democratic elections could be held in a year’s time, possibly at the end of 2015.

"The prime minister has said it would take about one year. But, my feeling is that it may take maybe,a year and a half."

BBC reported that the delay meant that Thailand wouldn't return to democracy until the middle of 2016.

Sommai also said there was no end date for martial law as Prayut needed it as a tool to deal with security.

Full article: General election could be delayed : Finance minister - The Nation

Originally Posted by Sumocakewalk

Sommai also said there was no end date for martial law as Prayut needed it because he's a tool, to deal with security.

Fixed

Originally Posted by Sumocakewalk

"The prime minister has said it would take about one year. But, my feeling is that it may take maybe,a year and a half."

I read that differently than the headline of the BBC article. The way The Nation presents it, the possibility of a delay was more of an opinion by the Finance Minister than a confirmed political announcement by the regime.

Prayut is currently out of the country on a diplomatic visit to Laos for a couple of days.

I won't be surprised if the election is postponed, but let's see what Prayut has to say when he's back.

the election will happen after they manage the handover from the main event

Originally Posted by RPETER65

Originally Posted by Warrior

"...citing groups opposed to the junta ... as one reason for the delay..."

555 Are you in charge, or what Mr General? Over 80% of the population is happy with you, as you like us to believe. That leaves only a very small percentage that is actually actively opposing you... and you can not handle that? What a mess.
Better you work on such important programs as student dormitory laws.

Or the arrest and confinement of high ranking police taking in billions illegally. You all seem to over look anything positive from this administration.

I am not overlooking it. I am just weighing the negatives more important than the possitives.