By Prashanth Parameswaran
The latest read on the ever-shifting timeline for Thailand’s election.
In Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s first public address just over a week after the May 22 coup last year, he said that the ruling junta he led had a time frame of a year and three months to move towards elections.
Yet as The Diplomat has been reporting, that deadline has been repeatedly delayed – first into 2016 and now into 2017 (See: “When Will Thailand Hold its Next Election?”). The rejection of a new draft constitution earlier this month was just the latest sign that the ruling junta is likely to extend its reign far longer than it had earlier indicated (See: “Thailand Completes Troubling New Constitution”).
This week, Thai leaders suggested that polls would be held sometime in mid-2017, with a possibility of them being moved forward a few months.
According to Reuters, Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha told reporters that the next general election could be organized around July 2017.
Read the full story at The Diplomat