FORMER ELECTED prime ministers Yingluck Shinawatra and Abhisit Vejjajiva welcomed junta leader General Prayut Chan-o-cha contesting the next election after a poll suggested strong public support for the general as premier and speculation increased that a military party would be formed.

Yingluck said she welcomed Prayut running for the elected premiership because people wanted to see their prime minister come from a legitimate election.

“It is a nice thing because it is what everyone is expecting. We want an elected leader,” the former prime minister and Prayut’s former boss said when she met reporters before appearing in court in relation to her administration’s rice-pledging scheme. “As a citizen, I give an opportunity [for Prayut to run in an election]. If people trust him to, he could be the next PM.”

Ex-premier and current Democrat Party leader Abhisit said he had no right to stop Prayut from running. If the general thought he had something to offer voters, he had every right to set up a party, Abhisit said.

However, the Democrat leader said that the party, if set up, could be deemed as being closely tied to the current powers-that-be and the period of extraordinary rule. Such a party would need to be extra careful in ensuring a fair competition, Abhisit said.

Otherwise, the former PM said the party could bring back the same old issue about the abuse of state power, which has been even more pressing under the coup-installed regime.

“PM Prayut said that at the moment he only focuses on working. That’s good. Keep up the good work,” Abhisit said. “All the work will prove to members of the public who will decide in the future election.”

The remark followed a survey last week in which more than half of 1,250 poll respondents supported the idea of a pro-military party to take the baton after the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) steps down.

However, Prayut as the centre of attention remained unclear about the future. The junta leader neither confirmed nor denied speculation that there would be a pro-junta party and he would continue his rule. He briefly said that he did not think about the issue but kept on working.

Likewise, Army chief General Chalermchai Sitthisart refrained from making any remarks on the issue.

The support for a pro-junta party was determined in a survey, he said, but in the overall picture, the Army and the NCPO would try to keep peace and order and make it through the election as planned in the “road map to democracy”.

“Whether a military party will be set up, I don’t know. But when I retire, I’m over with it,” the Army chief and NCPO secretary-general said.

Asked whether the NCPO would continue to be active or withdraw from politics after the election, Chalermchai said that after the national vote, the new government would run the country, adding that actions would follow the law and the Constitution.