The group stood firm on its stance that the next election must be held this year, as promised earlier by Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, its leader Rangsiman Rome said during a demonstration at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan campus.

Before the election, the junta – the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) – must change its role as an administering government to that of a caretaker only to facilitate the holding of an election, the activist said.

And lastly, the Army should stop supporting the NCPO’s political rule, he added.

The protest yesterday was the sixth in a series against the coup-installed regime, calling for a general election which was last held in the country in 2011. In February 2014, the Pheu Thai-led government had called an election that was aborted by anti-government rallies.

The current pro-election protest began in late January following the release of the organic law governing the election of MPs.

The junta-appointed National Legislative Assembly laid out in the law that its enforcement be put off by three months after promulgation, naturally delaying the election by the same amount of time. The move contradicted a statement by Prayut, who is also the NCPO leader, late last year that the next election would be held in November.

The activities to demand an election this year are expected to be intense this month, as May 22 marks the fourth anniversary of the coup.

Yesterday, more than 400 people took part in the peaceful demonstration, packing the venue – the Pridi Banomyong Park – inside the TU campus. Some 600 security officers reportedly were deployed to observe and keep a record of the activity.

Rangsiman said yesterday that Prayut had repeatedly failed to keep his promises about holding the election.

The protesters had no choice but to come out and voice their demands because there was no guarantee that the election would take place in February next year as promised by the government, he said. Despite the continuous attempt by the group to apply pressure on the junta, political critic and activist Ekachai Chainuvati admitted it was difficult for the demonstration to be successful.

“We cannot expect hundreds of thousands or millions of people to come out on May 22 this year, considering the strict law enforcement on public assembly through use of the junta order,” he said.

“So, it would not be as successful as the People’s Democratic Reform Committee’s movement before the coup and not as violent as the Black May riots of 1992.”

He predicted a scenario of the activists getting arrested for the planned demonstration.

The party’s co-founders, Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit and Piyabutr Saengkanokkul, said on Friday that the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) had given them permission for the meeting, which will be held at Thammasat University’s Rangsit campus.

Known for its stance against the “undemocratic regime”, the party had sent an application to the NCPO to not only allow them to hold the meeting but also to lift all bans that hinder political activities for a healthy atmosphere ahead of the election.

While the NCPO still imposes a ban on political gatherings of five or more people, new parties can seek the NCPO’s permission to hold their first meeting to frame party regulations and select board members, according to the NCPO Order No 53/2017.

The permission is given on a case-by-case basis.

New systems introduced in the 2017 charter, such as the primary voting system required to select MP candidates, would mean that all parties have to step up to arrange sufficient number of members to enable themselves to compete in constituencies.

They also will likely face challenges for political campaigning as the ruling junta, which strictly controlled the 2016 referendum on the charter draft, would be in charge when the election is held.

Thanathorn and Piyabutr were speaking at a Facebook Live event on Friday at 8.30pm, a time that interestingly coincided with PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s weekly talk show.

In a veiled dig at Prayut’s “Returning Happiness to People in the Country” programme as it was previously called, the two Future Party leaders called their event “Thanathorn-Piyabutr return Friday to the People”.

“Those politicians and financiers who wish to support the NCPO and the undemocratic regime should show their stance openly. Their names should also be well recorded. This should be made politically clear for the people to decide,” Thanathorn said.

Piyabutr added that in the democratic system, the MPs are directly elected by the people to exercise powers on their behalf and it would be “a shame” for these MPs to support such a regime.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha said he had no plan to meet with any key politicians during his trip although he would not oppose their presence to welcome him.

“There is nothing special. I am not going to strike a deal with anyone. I don’t want to meet politicians,” Prayut told reporters.

“But I don’t want to prohibit politicians from welcoming me either. If you want to, do it. Do you think I can bar people from greeting me?” he added.

General Prayut, who also heads the ruling junta National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said he had not told politicians in the region to meet or welcome him.

Key government figures, including the PM and his deputies Somkid Jatusripitak and General Prawit Wongsuwon, have dismissed allegations by critics and major political parties that people in power are “sucking out” former MPs from those parties to a new party being formed to support Prayut’s return as head of government after the next election.

They claimed that those politicians had simply approached them, and that it was not the other way around.

Prayut has not ruled out returning to power. During his past working visits to different regions, he has often met politicians who are influential in those areas and have a number of former MPs in their factions or parties. Some politicians have become political appointees and their areas have been injected with state funds – moves viewed as “rewards” for those opting to join his future alliance.

General Prayut and his Cabinet members are expected to meet with many local residents during their two-day trip to four northeastern provinces starting next Monday.

A mobile weekly Cabinet meeting is scheduled to take place on Tuesday in Buri Ram during the trip to the lower northeastern region that also covers Nakhon Ratchasima, Surin and Chaiyaphum provinces.

On Monday afternoon, the prime minister is scheduled to meet local residents at the 32,600-seat Chang Arena football stadium in Buri Ram, a major landmark and the home of Thai Premier League champions Buriram United Football Club. The team is run by former veteran politician Newin Chidchob, who has maintained his political influence, particularly among politicians of the Bhum Jai Thai Party.

In October, the stadium will host the PTT Thailand Grand Prix, the country’s first “MotoGP” world-class motorcycle racing event financed by the state-owned petroleum giant.

As Buri Ram is a traditional Bhum Jai Thai stronghold, the party’s leader Anutin Charnvirakul has said he and Newin would welcome the prime minister, who would meet some 30,000 people at the stadium.

However, Anutin denied speculation that his party and the ruling junta would make a deal during the PM’s visit. He was afraid of criticism from political rivals and other parties, Anutin said. Moreover, it would be too soon to make any deal long before the election, he added.

Anutin said he did not think Prayut wanted to talk with politicians during the trip either. “He is being watched even more than us. If he just disappears for five seconds, there will be so much speculation,” the politician said. General Prayut is scheduled to chair the mobile Cabinet meeting on Tuesday morning at Rajabhat Buriram University, where he will also preside over a meeting on social and economic development in the four lower northeastern provinces.

The PM will inspect the Buri Ram Airport later on Tuesday before returning to Bangkok the same evening, according to his itinerary.

Meanwhile, Nakhon Ratchasima authorities are set to request the Cabinet next week grant a budget for road expansion in preparation for a high-speed train project linking Bangkok and the province, Governor Vichien Chantaranothai said yesterday.

He said his province also would ask the Cabinet for funding for other projects involving agriculture, trade and investment, quality of life, and tourism.

In a related development, Prayut yesterday said he had instructed the Civil Service Commission (CSC) to allow politicians and political party representatives to attend a new course on leaders of change, with the focus on reform, national strategy and reconciliation.

The course normally is intended for civil servants and local administrative organisations.

“Political parties should send their representatives to join the training for knowledge about the bureaucracy. In the future, the political, bureaucratic and civil sectors will have to work together no matter who forms the government,” Prayut said.

The prime minister instructed the CSC to hold the course as soon as possible, preferably a few months before the next election, according to Methini Thepmanee, the agency’s secretary-general.

“Tell them there must be peace in society if they want an election,” Prayut said. “Whether the election will happen or not isn’t up to me. It’s up to them. And I have already said it will happen in 2019. Stop this already. I’m so tired.”

The pro-election group led by young activists, including Rangsiman Rome and Sirawith Seritiwat, has planned to protest against the prolonged rule of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and called for the holding of an election within this year.

Rangsiman said that the demonstration would take place at Thammasat University’s Tha Prachan Campus from 4pm onwards. They would not march outside the campus, he said.

Besides the election demand, the leader said the group stood firm in its stance that the NCPO be a caretaker government that run the country only up to the election and that the Army must stop supporting the junta.

As May 22nd will mark the fourth anniversary of the coup, Rangsiman said the group would also line up activities and movements for this month.

The protest today is part of a series of rallies since late January. The series is in response to the amendment of the organic law governing the MP election that could delay the election by three months.

Rangsiman also said yesterday that the recent submission of the organic law governing the Senate could further delay the poll currently scheduled for February next year, too.

Authorities, meanwhile, said they were prepared for the protest and warned the protesters not to break the law.

Deputy police chief General Srivara Ransibrahmanakul said yesterday the demonstration taking place inside a university, a private estate, would not violate the political assembly law.

But whether it was an infringement of the junta ban on political assembly of five people would be decided by the Army, he said.

However, officers had been prepared for any situation that could happen, the deputy police chief said.

If the protesters marched outside the campus or violated any laws, legal consequences would follow, he said.

Those who already had a police record or an arrest warrant would be arrested if they committed any crime today, Srivara added.

Officers and plainclothes officers would be deployed, he said.

They would keep watch on any interference by a third party that could provoke violence, he said.

“According to the Royal Institute Dictionary of New Words, 2nd book, Grean is defined to describe aggressive, agitating and unreasonable people,” the EC acting secretary-general and party registrar Charungwit Phumma explained in a letter to Sombat.

“Naming a party as ‘Grean Party’, meanwhile, could bring confusion to society as the meaning could be inappropriate and disturb people’s order or morality,” the letter said, adding the naming could violate the organic law on political party and the EC regulation on political party.

The EC told Sombat to fix the name to be “accurate with appropriate meaning” and resubmit within 15 days.

Failure to do so would mean Sombat’s party would not be registered, it warned.

Sombat, who shared photos of the two-page letter on his Facebook status, said on the same post that he plans to either go to the EC headquarters to fix the name or to file an objection petition with the Administrative Court.

According to Article 18 of the political party organic law, a party’s name, abbreviation and logo must not object to or change the constitutional monarchy regime, disturb people’s order or morality, tend to create fractions among people of the country and influence or obstruct the MPs’ independent operation.

Positioned as an alternative party, the Grean Party intended to “disrupt any party policies” by making suggestions with focus on benefits of social minorities, which Sombat thinks has been overlooked by most of parties at the national level.

While Thaksin Shinawatra told the Japanese media earlier that Pheu Thai would gain a landslide electoral victory, the party would reportedly have to reset its strategy following the junta’s absorbance of politicians from various blocs.

The party also faces a plunging number of members following the junta’s requirements for them to verify their memberships within April only.

According to a source from the security agency, Thaksin’s appearance to the party members is also expected to yield marketing benefits to the party and boost trust.

Visiting Pheu Thai figures would include Yingluck Shinawatra’s ex-deputy Chalerm Yubanrung, ex-minister Worawat Auapinyakul and the party’s acting deputy leader Kirang Kantinan, according to the party source.

“The junta’s attraction to politicians is what they might be discussing,” said ex-Pheu Thai MP Samart Kaewmeechai. “They will also be seeking for the new party’s leader though it should not be urgent.”

Samart said possible candidates, ex-ministers Khunying Sudarat Keyuraphan and Chadchart Sittipunt, could all lead the party.

Deputy Prime Minister and Defence Minister Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, meanwhile, said that ex-MPs attending the meeting would not break the law given that the junta’s order, which banned certain groups from travelling outside Thailand, was already revoked.

However, Election Commission president Somchai Somcharoen warned that allowing outsiders, who are neither on the party’s board nor members, to guide the party would result in it being dissolved and candidates being barred from contesting the election.