New | Thai junta leader says interim government will be set up in August
But a general election is still more than a year away, as military leaders start PR offensive calling on foreign diplomats and reporters not to call the seizure of power a coup.
The head of the junta that seized power in Thailand last month said on Friday that an interim government would be set up by August, the first time he has given a clear date on delegating any sort of power in the country.
General Prayuth Chan-ocha, in an address to senior military officials, announced the date as part of a three-phase plan of reconciliation, formation of a government and elections to be rolled out by the ruling National Council for Peace and Order.
“A government will be set up by August, or at the very latest September,” Prayuth told a meeting devoted to the next year national budget.
The army took power on May 22 in a bloodless coup after six months of sometimes violent street protests pitting mainly rural supporters of ousted Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra against her Bangkok-based, royalist opponents.
Prayuth repeated in his address that a temporary constitution would be drafted within three months. It would take at least a year until a new general election could take place.
“In the next three months we must do everything properly, whether it is the constitution or other matters. Everything for the first phase should be complete by August,” Prayuth said.
Since taking power, the military has silenced dissent and rounded up at least 300 politicians, activists and journalists. Many are linked to exiled former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, alleged by his opponents to have directed from abroad the government headed by his sister Yingluck.