The veteran politician said he expected Pheu Thai to gain a majority in the House of Representatives, by winning more than 250 of the 500 seats up for grabs.

“Believe me, the Pheu Thai Party will win with a landslide. I am certain we will get more than 250 MP seats,” he said.

Chalerm’s remarks reflected an earlier claim made by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who is widely viewed as Pheu Thai’s patriarch and often referred to as “Big Boss” by many of its politicians.

Chalerm recently met Thaksin – who has been in self-exile overseas since 2008 – in Hong Kong.

The ex-PM fled the country shortly before the Supreme Court’s Criminal Division for Political Office Holders sentenced him to two years in jail for abuse of power.

Regarding a new party leader for Pheu Thai, Chalerm also said that it would “certainly not be him”. However, he declined to comment on who he thought was suitable to become the party’s next leader.

A deputy prime minister in the previous government led by Thaksin’s sister, Yingluck Shinawatra, Chalerm said on Monday that he was now in charge of Pheu Thai’s election centre and that he had information pointing to the party’s victory in the next national election.

He added that Pheu Thai would “completely defeat” a political group called Sam Mit (Three Friends), which had been formed to support Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha’s return to power after the election.

Sam Mit, led by veteran politicians who are Thaksin’s former allies, is linked to a new political party called Palang Pracharat, whose name is inspired by the government’s populist development project Pracharat (people and state).

The group has managed to woo many former MPs from other parties, particularly Pheu Thai, into its fold.

Chalerm also said that Sam Mit had got only “election candidates”, and not election winners.

This remark reflected a claim by Thaksin and some Pheu Thai leaders that the party’s new candidates would defeat those defectors in the next general election.

Chalerm was speaking to reporters at the Crime Suppression Division (CSD), which he was visiting to offer moral support to his son, Wan, and his grandson, Achawin, both of whom had turned themselves in at CSD headquarters to face the charge of physical assault.

Wan and Achawin stand accused of assaulting a 34-year-old man outside a Thong Lo pub during the night of April 23.

The accuser, identified as Panuwat Punnarattanakul, who had a personal dispute with Achawin while in Singapore, alleged that Wan had punched him in the face many times on the night in question.

Panuwat also claimed that an armed man accompanying Wan and Achawin had drawn his pistol when he was about to fight back.

At that time, Achawin also kicked him, the accuser added.

The armed man fired shots into the air to prevent Panuwat’s friends from helping him, it was alleged.

Achawin, accompanied by his lawyer, was questioned for about two hours at CSD headquarters, before being released after being fingerprinted. Wan had turned himself in to police last month to face the same charge.

The tentative dates were set as per the government’s road map, and after discussions were held with political parties and concerned agencies in June this year, Ittiporn clarified.

“We are ready to hold an election, no matter whether [it is held] sooner or later,” the new EC chairman said.

The current charter stipulates that an election must be held within 150 days after the law concerning the election of MPs comes into effect.

The MP election bill was submitted for royal endorsement on June 15, and once it is announced in the Royal Gazette, it will take another 90 days to go into effect. An election will have to be held within 150 days after that.

Maj-General Piyapong Klinphan, a spokesman for the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said the council had not found anything of concern or any security threats that might delay the election.

He said the NCPO still closely watched the movements of all political groups and parties, and has learned that everything is being done within the line of law and nothing has affected national security.

The NCPO will continue maintaining peace and order in the country, so elections can be held as per normal, he said.

The PM was just issuing an order to government agencies to come up with measures within three months to deal with road congestion, he said.

Sansern said Prayut did not mean that the city’s notorious traffic woes could be tackled in three months as reported. There are several issues making up the traffic problem, Sansern said, including an inadequate city plan, the on-going construction of mass transit systems and the high number of vehicles and motorcycles at 9.7 million.

Sansern said the number of vehicles and motorcycles is eight times higher than can be properly accommodated on the available road space.

The spokesman said Prayut simply ordered related government agencies to within three months come up with measures to reduce traffic congestion as much as possible.

The lawsuits relate to allegations of bribery involving the Ua Athon housing project for the poor..

Public prosecutors brought the suits separately against Watana and eight other people, as well as Arisman and four others.

Watana, 60, who served as the social development and human security minister in the Thaksin Shinawatra government, is accused of alleged malfeasance and accepting bribes from companies contracted for construction of houses under the project.

The Ua Athon housing project was implemented by the National Housing Authority (NHA).

Also indicted along Watana are Mana Wongpiwat, who headed an NHA project screening subcommittee from 2005 to 2006, and senior executives of the contracting companies.

Arisman, 54, a former Pheu Thai party-list MP, is accused of allegedly encouraging Watana to abuse his power and for Mana to accept the bribes. Co-defendants are private companies involved in the project.

Three leaders from the new parties in Chulalongkorn University’s political science department on Friday shared the similar political stance of not aiming to enter to power by expecting to win many seats in parliament.

Instead, they founded parties to publicise rarely discussed matters.

Sombat Boonngamanong plans to use digital platforms to gather voices on minority issues as they are the key focus of his Gean Party.

“We don’t think any major party will spend time brainstorming on so-called ‘trivial’ issues such as stray dog management or prisoner issues. That is what our Gean Party plans to produce policies on,” Sombat said.

While policies for major parties are produced mostly by their boards, Sombat’s Grean party plans to build a “policy-producing” digital platform where interested people can discuss, gather and formulate matters to the point that they can become policies.

Sombat, a political activist who has often appeared with his fancy costumes and props, noted that it is important to engage normal people. “While technology helps us to keep in touch with the public base, we also have to put some effort in to keep our communications going with people,” he said.

Chumpol Krutkaew, founder of Klang Party, said that while his party is not meant to be politically “klang” – or neutral – as the name may suggest, the party would instead aim to be a “klang” – or public – platform for discussions on development.

Chumpol said technology can play a crucial part in driving democracy by engaging more interest from outsiders.

“While MPs represent us in a traditional democracy, today’s technology enables everyone with the internet to have a voice on or even suggest policies,” he said. “Thanks to technology, politics has become more and more in our hands.”

His idea is that he may start from his Klang Party first by developing mobile applications to facilitate the party’s domestic voting process.

However, Chumpol is also aware of the cons of gathering the direct voices or votes from the public. “The question is do voters have equal access to information before they cast votes,” he said.

“It will certainly be a challenge to use digital platforms creatively and not to create conflict,” he added. “As much as we make use of technology, we have to keep up with its complexity. Information from a few sources won’t ever be enough to make informed decisions in this fast-changing world.”

Pakorn Areekul from Samun Chon Party or “ordinary people’s party” said while 57 million of 69 million Thais have online access and 51 million of them are active on social media. The junta does not pay enough attention to online political engagement.

“They may press charges against dissenters, but they ignore the 300,000-name online petition against the Computer Crime bill,” Pakorn said, referring to how the junta-appointed legislators ignored the petition over the much-opposed bill.

Pakorn pointed to the importance of not only access to the internet but speeds.

“The slower they can access, the slower they can keep up with the rest of the world,” he said. “To me, slow internet obstructs social change.”

Mahannop briefly stated that the matter should be left in the hands of the new EC board, that was officially appointed on Wednesday.

A source earlier this week said those who wanted to withdraw the amendment did not want to

make the EC law too easy to amend in future. Legal amendments concerning independent organisations should be initiated by those organisations and not the legislators, said the source.

The tentative change has been in the headlines for weeks as the 75-year-old legislator organised a group of colleagues to propose the NLA revoke the bill’s regulation on local election inspectors in order to “create a free and fair election”.

The move was much criticised as the proposed change would infringe on the EC’s power in overseeing elections at the local level, and also result in a longer wait before the nation again headed to the polls.

Enacted last year, the EC bill is one of four organic laws that must be implemented prior to holding a general election. According to the 2017 constitution, the election must be organised by 150 days after the bills are in effect. Consequently, amending the EC bill would result in a delay before all organic laws were in place and the countdown to the election began.

Mahannop insisted that the proposal was not aimed at buying time for the junta ahead of the election.

The NLA President Pornpetch Wichitcholchai also noted that the idea was limited to only a small number of NLA members and not the legislative body as a whole.

“So, this couldn’t mean that we helped the National Council for Peace and Order to prolong the election timeline,” stressed the junta-appointed NLA president.

Romsit was transferred to an inactive post on Tuesday, less than two months after taking over as secretary-general at AMLO. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha issued his transfer order under the charter’s Article 44.

Prayut said yesterday that though Romsit had done nothing wrong, AMLO’s leadership had been changed to make the agency more efficient.

Romsit worked under Pol General Chaiya Siriamphunkul, who is now chairman of the agency. Romsit’s abrupt removal followed the August 14 meeting of the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) chaired by Prayut and attended by deputy PM Prawit Wongsuwan, who had reportedly said there was a top-level discussion on AMLO’s leadership change.

In fact, Romsit had only been given the top position on June 29, so the change had come fast and was rather unusual.

For NCPO, the top AMLO post is crucial, especially in view of the looming general election due some time next year. Hence, the AMLO secretary-general has to be someone who can take immediate action to speed up pending cases that are politically sensitive.

Romsit’s predecessor, Chaiya, had done a satisfactory job earlier and hence was promoted to the chairman’s post after retirement. Chaiya’s deputy was supposed to run the agency under his watch. However, sources said Romsit had not expedited several pending cases, citing legal and other constraints, which prompted the premier to have him moved to an inactive post in the PM’s Office.

Over the past two months, few key cases under AMLO’s jurisdiction have advanced, especially in relation to politically sensitive cases such as those related to Panthongtae Shinawatra, son of fugitive former premier Thaksin.

Panthongtae faces charges from the National Anti-Corruption Commission as well as AMLO related to his alleged wrongdoing in the state-owned Krung Thai Bank loan fraud case.

Sources said AMLO would also play a powerful oversight role in the upcoming general election regarding the flow of funds that are used by politicians during the elections.

Even though Romsit was a trusted deputy of AMLO chairman Chaiya, who had personally chosen the former to succeed him as AMLO secretary-general, Romsit did not live up to the NCPO’s expectations. So, there will soon be a replacement as the Prayut government gets ready to hold general elections |next year.

PM General Prayut Chan-o-cha said yesterday that relevant technology must be adopted to help control and manage traffic flow, especially during rush hour.

“The government can’t deny the responsibility of easing traffic problems,” Prayut, who also leads the ruling National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), said.

He was speaking during a visit to the Traffic Police Division’s integrated traffic control centre. He was accompanied by relevant Cabinet members.

During his visit, General Prayut said that from now on, all police stations in Bangkok would have to follow instructions from the traffic-control centre, in a move to ease traffic problems in the city as a whole.

He said technology could be adopted to get real-time traffic data for the city’s entire network of roads, rails and waterways.

He explained that up-to-date technology would provide better and more accurate traffic updates compared to just humans watching monitors.

He also suggested that help should be sought from university researchers about the use of technology in analysing traffic condition and easing traffic flow.

The PM said this effort to ease traffic congestion should yield a positive result within three months and has threatened to take disciplinary action against any police station found to have been negligent.

He said all related state agencies should work together closely and seriously, in a united manner, to help ease the traffic problem. He cited the Metropolitan Police, Expressway and Rapid Transit Authority, State Railway of Thailand |and Bangkok Mass Transit Authority, among others.

Prayut has also instructed national police chief, General Chaktip Chaijinda, to ensure that motorcades of his Cabinet members do not affect the already congested traffic. His instruction came after Bangkok commuters complained about frequent motorcades led by police motorcycles during rush hour.

As for the use of technology, government spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd explained yesterday that it was only a broad direction. It would be up to each relevant agency to decide which technology it should adopt as a solution to traffic issues, the spokesman added.

These agencies are allocated an annual budget, and they can earmark some of the funds for this purpose without having to make new proposals, Sansern said.

Also yesterday, the PM and his entourage rode the Skytrain from National Stadium station to Bang Wa, on the Thon Buri side of the city. Telling reporters that this was his first commuter-train ride in 10 years, the premier also took time to talk to some passengers, including foreign tourists.

At Bang Wa station, the PM was briefed by Bangkok Governor Aswin Kwanmuang and other Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) executives about the expanding network of “wheels, rails and boats” for commuters.

Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwan yesterday instructed the Royal Thai Police and the BMA to work together in easing the city’s traffic woes, Defence Ministry spokesman Lt-General Kongcheep Tantrawanit said.

During his meeting with representatives from related agencies at Government House, General Prawit, who also serves as defence minister, mentioned the worsening traffic congestion caused by ongoing construction of mass transit projects along several major roads in Bangkok.

They were accused of breaking the referendum law, which was seen as targeting protesters against the junta’s charter draft.

The law prohibited the public and media from discussing the vote.

Handed out by the Appeal Court, the punishments were revised and increased from those of the civil court back in September 2016, when Piyarat Jongthep was sentenced to two years in prison and a Bt2,000 fine, reduced to a one-year suspension.

Jirawat Ekakkharanuwat and Songtham Kaewpanpreuk, who filmed Piyarat’s tearing up the ballot paper outside the voting booth in Bangkok’s Bang Na district, were earlier acquitted of the charges.

Apart from the referendum bill’s Article 59 and Article 60, which punished those damaging ballots and obstructing voting, the three were also accused of breaking the Criminal Code’s Article 188 on damaging documents and Article 358 on damaging public property.

The Appeal Court initially sentenced them each to six months in prison but later reduced the sentences, saying they provided useful testimonies.

The activists, while reaffirming that they did not instigate any disturbance, said they would consider whether they would pursue the case in the Supreme Court, according to their lawyer Krisadang Nutcharas.