“Why would I need to do a reshuffle?” he asked reporters, suggesting that the press seemed to be requesting one. “Are the current ministers failing to perform?”

He said the new Constitution didn’t oblige him to make Cabinet changes and they were anyway unnecessary for now.

Prayut was speaking to reporters informally as head of the National Council for Peace and Order, having cancelled a planned press conference to mark the coup anniversary next Monday.

Prayut led the May 22, 2014, coup that toppled the elected Yingluck Shinawatra government.

He said a press conference would instead be held in September, when the junta-led government marks the anniversary of its establishment. The military junta and the government should not be regarded separately, he said.