The Constitutional Court has given the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) until next Friday (May 11) to provide an explanation on its controversial order on political party affairs.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam on Thursday said the NCPO had asked the court for more time to prepare an explanation.
Initially, the court did not ask for opinions from the NCPO, but it did from other agencies, Mr Wissanu said.
However, the court later came to realisation that an explanation from the NCPO was also needed, so the court asked it to submit an explanation by next Friday, he added.
According to the NCPO's Order 53/2017 issued last December, members of parties were required to reconfirm their membership and pay related fees between April 1-30, or they would lose their membership status.
On April 11, the Constitutional Court accepted petitions by the Democrat and Pheu Thai parties asking it to rule on the validity of the Section 44 order amending the organic law on political parties.
The Office of the Ombudsman decided to seek a court ruling on whether the order violates the charter, based on the two parties' petitions which were filed separately.
They slammed the order, claiming it affects people's right to party membership guaranteed by the constitution.
Asked if the court's ruling will have any impact on the reconfirmation of political parties' membership which just ended last Monday, Mr Wissanu said there should be no problems.
He gave an assurance that any changes made based on the court's ruling will not hurt the right to party membership.
Addressing the organic bill governing the election of MPs which is being deliberated by the Constitutional Court, Mr Wissanu insisted that this will not affect the roadmap for the general election expected in February next year.
While the court has announced it will rule on the validity of the organic bill on May 23, it has not yet fixed a date for a ruling on the validity of the bill.
