Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has defended political parties seeking to form alliances after the March 24 poll as a campaign calling for the removal of the Election Commission (EC) gathers steam.
In a public statement issued on Friday, Gen Prayut said: "I don't want this to be seen simply as a struggle for power. It is about [people] joining hands to do good deeds for the country and stamping out bad people or those who cause damage to the country."
Gen Prayut's remarks came as the Pheu Thai Party, which won the largest number of House seats, claimed to have secured more than 250 seats with a seven-party coalition, and the pro-regime Palang Pracharath Party, which won the largest share of the vote, insisted that parties could move to form alliances as they wait for the official election result on May 9.
Gen Prayut defended his administration's initiatives, saying they should be continued and improved no matter who rises to power and pleaded with the public not to fall for distorted or false information.
He said democracy was more than just forming a coalition government.
"The focus should be on whether the government and the House of Representatives have good governance; if the people, no matter who they voted for, are cared for; if the country's competitiveness will grow. That is what this government has been doing," he said.
Meanwhile, voters who are not happy with the handling of the election are being urged to join a rally tomorrow at Victory Monument.
Anon Nampa, from the Thai Lawyers for Human Rights group, said the rally will start at 5pm and last about an hour as participants join a call to impeach the EC initiated by several student organisations.
He said the rally is intended to protect the people's votes and send a message to those responsible for the election.
Earlier, more than 817,000 people signed up to support the impeachment via the change.org website citing the alleged mishandling of last Sunday's ballot including the delayed delivery of ballots from New Zealand.
Susakol Ebata, a 23-year-old flight operation supervisor at Auckland Airport, said a majority of the Thai voters in New Zealand support the bid.
"I can say that 90% of the [voters tho cast the] 1,542 ballots are signing and sharing in the campaign," he said.
