Political gatherings of five or more people have been outlawed since Thailand’s army grabbed power in a May 2014 coup, booting Yingluck Shinawatra’s elected government from power.

The generals, who have repeatedly backtracked on promised returns to democracy, insist an election will be held “no later” than February 2019.

Yet while parties have been allowed to register in anticipation of the vote, they remain barred from discussing policy or meeting without junta permission.

Politicians have demanded the ban is lifted, while critics accuse the junta of buying time to bolster the chances of new army-linked parties in the upcoming election.

A defence ministry spokesman said the moratorium would soon be lifted, confirming comments the junta’s number two made to the local press on Thursday.

“The initial plan is that the ban would be lifted in June so that newly set-up parties are ready,” Lieutenant-General Kongcheep Tantravanich told AFP.

“While the big existing parties are already ready, the new parties need time… they will start their activities together in June,” he added.

The restricted climate has left questions swirling about leadership shuffles in Thailand’s biggest bloc — the toppled Pheu Thai party, which has dominated elections for a decade but has been repeatedly cut down by coups and court rulings.

The faction — the nemesis of the junta and Bangkok elite — is officially without a leader after both of its figureheads were driven into self-exile in the wake of 2006 and 2014 coups.

The exiled pair, former premiers and siblings Yingluck and Thaksin Shinawatra, made a rare public appearance at a book launch for a Japanese minister in Tokyo on Thursday.

It was one of Yingluck’s first public sightings since she fled Thailand last August ahead of a verdict in a court case she decried as a political witch-hunt.

Analysts say both leaders are unlikely to return to Thai soil any time soon after being convicted of graft charges in absentia.

But they may continue Thaksin’s approach of directing the powerhouse party from abroad.

The latest coup is widely seen as an effort to squeeze the Shinawatras out of Thai politics for good.

The junta’s new charter limits the purview of elected politicians while boosting the clout of appointed officials.

The next administration will also be straightjacketed by a “legally-binding” 20-year policy plan hatched by the junta.

The anti-graft body instead asked investigators to find out who was the real owner of all the watches, NACC secretary-general Worawit Sukboon told a press briefing.

Prawit had reported to the agency that the whole collection of more than 20 watches he had been spotted wearing on different occasions belonged to only one individual – his deceased, long-time, billionaire friend – the official said.

The photos of Prawit wearing the luxury watches exposed online suggested he had at least 25 different pieces. But the official yesterday corrected the number to 22, saying three photos featured the same watch.

He said two more individuals would be interrogated and 10 watch companies had been asked to respond to the agency’s questions. He declined to reveal the identity of the two individuals.

Four individuals had previously been interrogated by the NACC.

Before that, the NACC had submitted questions to 13 watch companies, he added, but only three had responded to questions.

It was unclear how long the investigation would take, Worawit said, adding that there was not much left to investigate but it was largely up to when the watch companies would respond.

Only after that, could the case be presented to the anti-graft commission, he said.

Worawit yesterday did not respond to a query on whether Prawit could have violated the law by receiving gifts worth more than Bt3,000, going by his claim that he had been given the luxury wristwatches by his friend.

The scandal of Prawit’s luxury-watch collection and diamond rings erupted in early December and the NACC has been investigating the case for more than three months.

Prawit was spotted wearing a Richard Mille, estimated to cost at least Bt2 million, and a large diamond ring. Questions arose as to how he had obtained such expensive items and if he had declared them to the NACC when he joined the post-coup government in 2014.

The scandal led to an investigation by the NACC to find out if Prawit had concealed his assets.

Prawit had been asked to clarify on four occasions how he had obtained the items after new photographs of him wearing expensive wristwatches kept emerging.

The total value of the watches |is estimated at more than Bt20 million.

Prawit, meanwhile, continues in office as both the defence minister and deputy prime minister, unfazed by the strong public censure.

Regarding the diamond ring, Worawit said yesterday Prawit had reported he had inherited it from his parents.

Meanwhile, Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnratchakit has withdrawn from the commission and would not be involved in any decision regarding the case, the secretary-general said.

Watcharapol was Prawit’s secretary in 2014 when the coup-installed government was formed.

His withdrawal came in response to public concern that he could influence the commission’s decision in the Prawit case.

Pornpetch Wichitcholchai, president of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA), said he had received a petition from NLA members asking him to seek a court ruling on the matter.

He said he would later ask Prayut in writing whether he had submitted the bill, which was passed by the NLA, for royal endorsement or had sought a court verdict himself.

If Prayut had not taken either action, Pornpetch said he would forward the NLA members’ petition to the Constitutional Court.

The NLA president also said that if the assembly did not get a reply from Prayut by the deadline on April 12, he would no longer be obliged to seek a Constitutional Court verdict on the NLA’s behalf.

Earlier, a group of lawmakers requested in writing that Pornpetch seek a Constitutional Court verdict regarding the constitutionality of the bill on MP elections, an assembly member said yesterday.

NLA member Kittisak Ratanawaraha said 27 NLA members, including himself, submitted their petition to the assembly’s president yesterday morning.

Their petition pointed to certain clauses in the MP election bill that could be deemed unconstitutional, he said. These included a provision that would deprive non-voters of their right to become political officials and a clause that would allow election officials to assist disabled and elderly voters in casting their ballots.

Critics have warned that those provisions could be deemed unconstitutional and cause an election to be declared void.

“I don’t know when the petition will be filed with the Constitutional Court. That will be decided by the seniors,” Kittisak said, appearing to refer to Pornpetch.

“I believe that this process of seeking the court’s verdict will not affect the election road map,” he said.

The NLA sought the court’s verdict on a similarly controversial bill on the senator selection but it opted not to do the same for the MP election, arguing that doing so would further delay the next election.

Meanwhile, Deputy Premier and Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan yesterday asked the Constitutional Court to complete its interpretation of the charter in a timely manner in order to prevent the possible delay of the next election.

Prawit maintained there would be no further delays to the election. He added that the NLA had to seek a court ruling on the constitutionality of the two bills on the MP election and on the senator selection – which are required for the next election to be held.

“I want the interpretation to be done quickly. That’s all and there’s no problem,” he told reporters.

In a related development, Deputy Prime Minister Chatchai Sarikulya yesterday dismissed a claim that the NLA was seeking a Constitutional Court verdict on the MP election law because they wanted to cause a delay in the election.

He also defended Prayut, saying that he had made it clear he wanted no further election delays.

“The prime minister said clearly that he would not get involved with the NLA’s process. If the election has to be postponed, that has nothing to do with General Prayut,” Chatchai said.

The Criminal Court’s verdict yesterday dealt with only one of four charges he faced under the draconian law related to his political struggle over recent years.

He was previously sentenced to three years and four months in jail by a military court, as well as seven years and a half by the Criminal Court in 2016. Another case involving the same charge is under the Ratchaburi provincial court’s consideration.

The lese majeste law is among several statutes that have been frequently used by authorities and conservative factions to silence activists during the political conflict in recent years.

In a separate case, Phu Khieo Provincial Court yesterday dismissed a charge of violating the referendum law against the young activist Jatupat “Pai Dao Din” Boonpatararaksa on the grounds that his campaign to oppose the junta-sponsored charter draft was not a crime but an act of freedom of expression.

Jatupat and fellow activist Wasin, who has asked to be referred to only by his first name, were accused of violating the Referendum Act for distributing leaflets listing seven reasons not to accept the constitution draft on August 6, a day before the referendum, at Phu Khieo Market in Chaiyaphum province.

Both were charged for allegedly causing a disturbance against the referendum, a crime punishable by up to 10 years imprisonment.

However, the court yesterday ruled the two were not guilty, because the distribution of leaflets was an exercise of protected rights and freedoms, which was permissible under the Referendum Act.

Their actions were not deemed seditious or provoking an uprising, the court ruled, arguing they had expressed their opinion about the charter draft, which they had the right to do.

The contents in the leaflets did not distort the truth, which was prohibited by the act, the court ruled.

Jatupat, however, remains in prison after having been found guilty of lese majeste for sharing an article deemed critical of the monarchy. His five-year prison sentence was halved after he confessed.

The “invitation” to the junta leader will be made if the NACC fact-finding committee concludes that they have insufficient evidence. The committee could also decide to terminate or continue the investigation.

The NACC has handled the case since December, when social media users started publishing photos of Prawit wearing luxury watches. About 25 watches that he has been photographed wearing are estimated to cost more than Bt30 million.

The watch collection, if determined to belong to the deputy premier and right-hand man of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, would constitute evidence of Prawit’s “unusual wealth” given his official salary and also his concealment of assets from the NACC. He did not declare any assets worth more than Bt200,000 to the NACC when he joined the junta government in 2014.

NACC president Pol General Watcharapol Prasarnrajkit, who has previously worked closely with Prawit, has pledged that he will not be involved in the case.

A JUNTA order setting the schedule for political parties in preparation for the upcoming election could be a problem rather than a solution, as political parties yesterday voiced concerns over difficulties and confusion related to their activities.

Parties stated in unison that the order should be amended or nullified to allow the completion of necessary activities before the poll.

While the Election Commission (EC) yesterday organised a seminar briefing parties about the changes involved in the order and new laws, the agency was unable to fully clarify the junta directive.

“The EC will try to help sort out the issues that drew complaints. But if it is about the National Council for Peace and Order [NCPO], we can only pass issues on to the authorities to help find answers,” said EC president Supachai Somcharoen yesterday.

Government officials had talked with him about amending the order and loosening the restrictions, he said, but added that at present the order remained unchanged.

Junta order 53/2560 was issued in December to reschedule the timetable laid out by the organic law governing political parties, while maintaining the prevailing ban on political activities.

The law requires parties to make arrangements, such as updating membership rosters and collecting membership fees, within a deadline initiated at the law’s promulgation in October. But politicians have been unable to fulfil the requirements because of the junta ban on most political activities.

According to the order, existing political parties can start administrative work this Sunday, but confusion remains about the membership status and collection of fees, which they have to do within 30 days. Unless members confirm their membership with the party during that period, they could lose their status.

Abhisit Vejjajiva

Abhisit Vejjajiva, Democrat Party leader, said yesterday he wanted clarification if members would lose their memberships if they failed to pay party fees within 30 days.

The junta order needed amendment, he said, as some points were impossible to achieve in practice. Among them was the order to set up regional branches, while parties were not allowed to convene or make any agreements, he said.

Phumtham Wechayachai, acting secretary-general of Pheu Thai Party, said yesterday the NCPO should revoke the political ban, otherwise parties would not be able to act.

“Facilitate the people as much as possible. Rescind the order and allow parties to perform their activities. This is the key solution to every problem,” the politician said.

Phumtham also said the confirmation of membership roles by the end of April would be problematic because more than 10 days would be lost to the Songkran public holiday, while there were other unclear rules and regulations.

“This is like all parties are being reset. If members don’t confirm their memberships, they are no longer members,” Phumtham said. “We are sure to lose a number of members. Such as the Demo-crats, they have millions of members. How can they call all of them in 30 days?”

Phumtham Wechayachai (center)

Warawut Silpa-archa, leader of Chart Thai Patana, also complained about the limited time and the public holiday, adding he expected to lose members.

“Not only do they [members] have to send documents to confirm their status, but they also have to pay a fee,” he said. “If there are any errors in the process, the punishment could be as harsh as dissolving the party. We think a smaller number is acceptable. We want to make sure the documents and everything else are correct.”

Meanwhile, the names of 25 to 30 members of the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) were also collected yesterday as part of a proposed petition for the Constitutional Court to reconsider whether the bill draft on the election of MPs violates the charter.

If the court accepts the request, it could take up to two months to consider the issue, which would also mean that more time would be consumed in the legislative process, which could delay the election period even further.

The list would be handed to the NLA president today before being forwarded to the court next Monday.

“I suppose the key activists already know what they will face and they will not be afraid of it. Eventually, ‘somebody’ will take care of them backstage anyway,” Chalermchai said.

He was referring to a series of assemblies held by the Democracy Restoration Group (DRG) which has called for the ruling junta to hold the long-delayed election by this November, as the premier General Prayut Chan-o-cha promised last year.

Authorities have threatened to track any “backstage supporters”, financially or otherwise, of the activist group, which insists it works independently.

The Army has been targeted by the DRG, whose members have called on the military to stop supporting the ruling junta. On Sunday, they marched to Army headquarters as a symbolic protest.

Chalermchai called the activists’ demands to be “groundless”. “They have no condition. They just want to make movements,” he said.

Meanwhile, seven activists including Sirawith Seritiwat on Wednesday went to Pattaya police station to help officers conclude their investigations in a case stemming from the pro-election assembly.

The gathering on March 4, led by Sirawith, was organised near Pattaya beach to not only call for election but also show the group’s stance against the junta ruling. The seven activists consequently faced charges for allegedly breaking the junta’s order on political gatherings and the public assembly bill.

The police have requested the court to issue summonses for another 15 activists, who still have to be identified, who are seen in recordings to have joined the assembly on the day.

Sirawith said the hours-long assembly was made brief, peaceful and was an exercise in rights.

The young law lecturer said his involvement in a campaign by a group of academics and citizens reflected his personal views and had nothing to do with the party.

“My views are not the party’s policies and they are not the party’s stated ideology. When it completely becomes a political party, Future Forward does not need to adhere to my views,” Piyabutr said in a Facebook message.

Piyabutr, a lecturer at Thammasat University, is part of the Nitirat group of academics that has strongly campaigned against the lese majeste law, which they view as draconian and a political tool used by people in power to weaken political enemies.

He was responding to a petition filed with the Election Commission on Monday seeking a decision as to whether Future Forward’s application to be registered as a new political party should be rejected.

The man who filed the petition, Sonthiya Sawatdee, heads a group called the People’s Federation for Scrutiny of the Thai State. He claimed Future Forward’s policy statement also proposed to seek amendments to the lese majeste law.

“According to the Political Parties Act, party policies must not threaten to cause social division. I would like the political party registrar to decide as to whether the Future Forward Party’s application goes against the law,” he said.

Piyabutr said yesterday that his ideas about the lese majeste law had not become part of the party’s stated policies, as it had not been officially formed and there had not been executive committee meeting deciding on the matter. He added that Sonthiya’s allegation that Future Forward had a policy about the lese majeste law was “based on his own imagination”.

The young academic promised that he would not attempt to push for amendments to the lese majeste law within the party, in order to avoid “people who do not want Thailand to transform into a democracy” from preventing the birth of Future Forward by advancing their own “propaganda”.

He said such a practice was part of negative old politics in which people with different views were regarded as enemies who needed to be politically destroyed.

“We should help to stop such unconstructive politics,” he added.

Piyabutr also urged people with “extreme conservatism” to be open-minded and listen to what the Future Forward co-founders had to say.

He added that he was ready for a constructive public debate with conservatives.

He also called on the Election Commission to allow the birth of Future Forward for “the return of a strong and constructive democracy”.

Piyabutr said even if conservatives eventually blocked the birth of Future Forward, there would be renewed attempts to set up similar parties in the future and people would never be able to prevent all of them from being born.

“Please don’t try to obstruct Future Forward. You are not only hindering my friends and I. What you are doing is destroying the hopes of people who dream of a new future,” he said.

However, Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva called on the Election Commission (EC) to get rid of at least three restrictions that he said made it more difficult for people to confirm their party membership.

Abhisit said the app, called D-Connect, is able to scan the barcode on a citizen ID card and access the EC’s database on political party memberships.

However, an EC requirement for the confirmation to be done with photocopies of ID cards and household registration added a burden on the people involved, he said.

“Also, this goes against the government’s attempt to promote Thailand 4.0 policy,” said Abhisit at the party’s headquarters, where a demonstration of how to use the app was held.

The Democrat leader also said the app allowed electronic signatures on the phone’s screen but that the EC would not certify that method and instead required a paper document with signature.

Moreover, according to Abhisit, the app could be used to transfer the membership fees –Bt100 per year or Bt2,000 for lifetime membership – through banks. However, banks require endorsement from the party’s executive board, which is not possible at this time as the ruling junta does not allow political parties to hold meetings, Abhisit said.

With D-Connect, current Democrat members can confirm their membership by scanning a QR code obtained through the app and then print the form required for confirmation, according to Abhisit.

He said the party would allow its current members to confirm their membership from April 1 to 30. This service would be provided at the party’s HQ, its offices nationwide and also at members’ homes, he added.

Established in 1946, Democrat is the country’s oldest political party. It claims to have 2.89 million members, which is the highest among Thai political parties.

Abhisit said that when representatives from political parties meet EC officials on Wednesday, he would raise the legal obstacles that would make it difficult to confirm party membership electronically.

“If the EC and the NCPO really want to see a reform of political parties in a way that they truly belong to the people, they must make it easier for people to confirm their membership. They should not create unnecessary obstacles,” he said.

The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) had dropped the MP election bill like a hot potato, passing it to the prime minister to decide whether the bill needed a court review to make sure it was constitutional.

If the court deems it is constitutional, it could be passed into law. If not, the NLA would have to take time to correct it accordingly.

Prayut said yesterday that the governments’ legal experts were still considering whether to submit it for judicial review but that the Cabinet should be able to forward the draft for royal endorsement by April 12, before the long Songkran holiday begins.

“The thing is that we have to make sure there won’t be legal conflicts that will cause trouble during the royal consideration process,” he said.

NLA President Pornpetch Wichitcholchai said yesterday that the bill had been submitted to the PM and, constitutionally, he had the authority to send it to the Constitutional Court himself, bypassing the NLA.

Legislators’ inconsistency

Before that, some political observers were already criticising the inconsistency among legislators, questioning why they would challenge the very bill they had written themselves and whether this was another conspiracy to postpone the poll.

The atmosphere of mistrust grew after the NLA put off the enforcement of the bill by three months after its |promulgation, delaying the election by the same amount of time.

The bill had already been passed twice in normal legislative sessions and was then also reviewed by a joint committee comprising the NLA, the Constitution Drafting Commission (CDC), and the Election Commission (EC).

However, the CDC still advised that it be submitted for judicial review.

They argued that a clause that allows electoral officials to assist physically challenged or disabled voters in the poll booth might pose problems, as the Constitution requires votes to be cast in secret.

Letting this slide could bring down the entire election because, at some stage in the future, someone might refer the issue to the Constitutional Court, the CDC reasoned.

In a related development, Democrat leader Abhisit Vejjajiva yesterday offered his support for the constitutionality review, for the sake of clarity, but he added that Prayut should ensure it was still possible to hold an election in February.

He said the PM could consider cutting the postponement of the enforcement down to 60 or 30 days from the current 90 days.

“This depends on how sincere the PM is, because he has the authority to do it or he can order the NLA to do it,” Abhisit said.

Pheu Thai Party legal expert Chusak Sirinil, meanwhile, questioned whether the government was playing a game and stalling for time.

Legislators could have written the bill in line with the charter but they didn’t, he said.

“If they really do it [send the bill for review], they will have to start over until they can seek royal endorsement again,” Chusak said.

“We don’t know how long the court will take to review the bill and if they rule it is unconstitutional, the amendment will take some time. So, the election will definitely be delayed.”