“For this [election] part, it was said that it would be around June 2018 that there will be the announcement of the election date, and then in November, there will be the election,” Prayut said after meetings of the Cabinet and the National Council for Peace and Order at Government House. Critics suspect that the junta has taken those factors as opportunities to push out the election date while they prepare to build long-binding governing mechanisms, such as the 20-year national strategy. During his trip to the US last week, Prayut made another promise, assuring US President Donald Trump that the election date would be announced next year. When including extra time for amendments to the bills, the election date should be able to be settled by next June, the spokesperson said. Prayut, meanwhile, urged political parties to calm down, adding that restrictions on political activities would be subject to debate.

Source: The Nation Bangkok October 10, 2017 18:11 UTC