The capricious responses by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha about the general election, now expected next February, have sown confusion and caused consternation among the public.
There is no "conspiracy theory" to delay it, he assured listeners Tuesday, amidst concern the poll will not be held on time if the government asks the Constitutional Court to rule on whether contentious points of the organic law on the election of MPs align with the spirit and letter of the charter.
Earlier on Sunday, he was quoted by a government spokesperson as saying continued political unrest would hinder the punctual observance of the "roadmap" to democracy (remember, the poll was originally supposed to be held back in 2015, prior to multiple delays).
His comments must surely have been aimed, at least in part, at the previous day's rally.
Gen Prayut was reportedly unhappy with a declaration by the Democracy Restoration Group and Start Up People, led by student activists Rangsiman Rome and Sirawith Seritiwat, respectively, after they led demonstrators to the gates of the Royal Thai Army headquarters.
There, they called on the army to stop supporting the regime, which was little more than political theatre but it got them and their message noticed.
The protest leaders said a bigger rally planned for May 5 will continue until the fourth anniversary of the May 22, 2014 coup.
Their sin?
Seeking a return to democracy as promised by the National Council for Peace and Order -- four years ago.
As the coup leader, Gen Prayut has broken many promises. He delayed the original plan to call a vote in 2015 to within a year of meeting Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo that Feb 9.
Then in a meeting with US President Donald Trump on Oct 10, 2017, he said it would be held by this November, only to later resort to similar forms of procrastination aided by the rubber-stamp National Legislative Assembly (NLA), whose members were handpicked by the National Council for Peace and Order -- of which Gen Prayut is chief.
Now there is talk of several more months of delay due to "technicalities" such as the charter court ruling against an organic law needed to facilitate the poll.
However, the premier insisted Tuesday that there is no conspiracy between his government, the Constitution Drafting Committee, which wrote the law, and the NLA, which approved it.
It was therefore little surprise to see the students, who have mostly remained politically inactive since the uprising in May 1992, demand the Prayut administration live up to its promise of holding the elections by the end of this year.
As part of the move to pressure the junta to live up to its promise, the student-led bodies have vowed to stage a prolonged sit-in protest -- a move that seems to have irritated those in power.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd quoted Gen Prayut as questioning whether it would be appropriate to hold elections if social unrest continues to rage on.
With many broken promises and arbitrary reactions by the premier, it is no surprise to see people getting agitated with the regime's move to prolong its power.
Instead of threatening to keep delaying the return to democracy, and creating even more confusion, the government should try to explain itself and assure the public that the planned poll will take place as planned and could even occur ahead of schedule.
Such an attitude could help to pacify those seeking a quicker poll and at the same time put a smoother touch to the problematic issues created by the NCPO.
