“They [politicians] can strike me, so I have to ask them back also,” Prayut said. “Do you have to listen to only them? Don’t I have any chance to speak up?

“I never said, even once, that there’ll be no election. Why did they interpret my words in such a way?

“Many of them spoke in a damaging way. Who would you call up in the future when there are problems? Prayut won’t be there anymore. Also, don’t ask the military to stage a coup. No one wants to do that if you didn’t create problems.”

Prayut spoke in response to many politicians who disagree with the premier’s four questions on the election and politicians, in which he encouraged people to submit their answers to government-run complaints centres across the country.

They said that the premier’s questions were seemingly designed to determine if politicians were being reasonable, and were designed to lead to answers that were in line with the junta’s intentions rather than really seeking genuine opinions.

But Prayut said: “They want to discredit us because they want everything to return to the same. Same constitution. Same laws. They don’t want anything new. Let me ask you: Would Thai people want any change?”

He said that “some political party”, apparently referring to the Pheu Thai Party, wants to implement another rice-pledging scheme and other populist policies.

“What would people do if problems come up again?” he said.

In his weekly national address on Friday night, the Prime Minister said Thais should answer the four questions before the country goes to the polls.

The questions are:

Do you think the next election will get Thailand a government with good governance?

If that is not the case, what will you do?

Elections are an integral part of democracy but are elections alone, with no regards for the country’s future and others, right or wrong?

Do you think bad politicians should be given the chance to come back to politics, and if conflict re-emerges, who will solve it and by what means?