Pravich Rattanapian, a member of the Election Commission (EC), says he agrees with the use of special powers by the National Council for Peace and Order's (NCPO) chief according to Section 44 of the interim constitution as they help solve obstacles to holding the election following its roadmap.
"To execute elections in 2019, four obstacles cited in a meeting of agencies responsible for this process must be resolved. However, a resolution doesn't need to be rushed by this month as we still have plenty of time to proceed until February," Mr Pravich said.
He was referring to problems discussed at a meeting between the NCPO, the Council of State, the Election Commission and the Constitution Drafting Committee on Thursday, including a clear answer on which political activities are allowed and which are off-limits, what role the political party's branch head should play in the primary vote process, what can be done about the designation of constituencies, and other requirements related to election-related deadline according to various laws.
Despite complaints from parties over the difficulty in holding primary votes, Mr Pravich denied the EC's proposal to revoke the system entirely.
"The EC does not have any proposal to revoke the primary vote because of deadline restrictions. Yet the EC made it perfectly clear that the vote must happen by the deadline according to the organic law on political parties," he said.
"The primary vote system is used for presidential elections in which clear dates are known. The process can take almost a year but the idea of using a political party's executive resolution to select candidates is unlikely to be allowed as this is against the objective of the law [the constitution requires the primary vote system]," Mr Pravich added.
Political parties have been calling on the NCPO to lift the ban on political activities, but Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon said on Friday that the ban is only likely to be removed after all the election-related laws come into effect. That is unlikely to satisfy the parties, which complain time is running out, including the time needed to satisfy various requirements under the law.
The Democrat Party's deputy leader Nipit Intarasombat said the NCPO might gradually lift the ban of political activities by first allowing all parties to hold general assembly and meetings to select the parties' executives.
Next, when the organic law on MP election is published in the Royal Gazette, but still not effective, the NCPO might use its special power or issue some laws to allow the designation of constituencies so parties can prepare for the primary vote. Finally, when all the election-related laws do take effect, political parties can begin their procedures for primary voting, Mr Nipit said.
On Friday, Gen Prawit assured that certain restrictions will be eased only after the government holds talks with representatives from political parties.
Among the four election laws, the draft legislation on the election of MPs will be the last to take effect due to a 90-day waiting period after it is published in the Royal Gazette.
Gen Prawit, who is assigned to chair the dialogue with the parties, tentatively scheduled to take place at the end of this month, declined to say which topics would be on the agenda.
He also shrugged off the possibility that some parties may boycott the planned discussion by saying that their absence should not have any bearing on the election process.
