He said if they maintained their ideologies, their members would still support them.

Politicians recently cried foul over the order, saying it only allowed them a short period of time to follow its stipulations. They also expressed concern that they could lose many of their members.

The order gives party members only one month to decide whether they will stay with their current party or review their political allegiance. Otherwise, they will lose their status with that party.

Prayut insisted the order was issued to be fair to both old and new parties.

Despite the rescheduling of the deadline, Prayut said it would not affect the road map to the next election.

He said earlier that the election would be held in November next year.