He said this was necessary given that some government figures kept making negative remarks about the coming general election, mocking the pre-coup atmosphere in a way that was unhealthy to reconciliation efforts.

In his view, the only way to stop such remarks was an assurance on the social contract that would be made upon agreement by all sides attending the reconciliation talks that had been held during the past few months.

If this were not done, the election would be in trouble, Jatuporn said, without elaborating further.

He also called on the public to help keep an eye on the development of the social contract.

The government-initiated reconciliation committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Pravit Wongsuwan, invited political parties and factions to take part in talks during the past few months, before forwarding the inputs to its sub-panels for development into a social contract, which it expected to be agreed upon by concerned parties.

The government hopes that such a contract would lead to political peace before the general election and that all players could enter election mode together next year.