With about three and a half months to go before the general election, the electorate and political parties do not have much time left to get ready. In order to do that, they need to be unchained from the political ban, imposed by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) in 2014, which restricts freedom of expression and political activities.
So far, the NCPO has merely allowed political parties to hold limited administrative arrangements under its halfhearted “partial relaxation” of the ban in September.
Even if the military regime completely lifts the ban today to bring about a political climate conducive to the election tentatively planned for Feb 24, it would still be far too late. But the NCPO has refused to do that, instead eyeing late this month or early next month as the earliest it would consider.
NCPO chairman and Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha this week insisted the relaxation of the ban will come only after his regime's meeting with political parties later this month or early next month.
Gen Prayut must realise that he has had more than four years to hold and wrap up talks with them. Now the time for those activities is up and the premier is running out of excuses not to return liberty to the people.
Liberty matters not only to politicians and individuals but also the regime itself if it wants to convince the international community that any election will be legitimate.
Political parties need sufficient time to form and pitch their policies to the public as well as to challenge and scrutinise those of their rivals. None of them should worry about being penalised by the ban.
The same goes for an electorate who require enough time to educate themselves about those parties’ policy platforms. They need the freedom to air their grievances and make demands to the political class.
Given that four cabinet members are at the helm of the Palang Pracharath Party, the electorate need full liberty to take the regime to task for its administration over the past four years without being subject to prosecution under the ban.
The regime can no longer cite the promulgation date of Dec 11 of the organic law governing elections of MPs as the time for lifting the ban. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam has mentioned that the same time frame of about two months would be given for politicians to hit the campaign trail. He misses the point. Under an elected government, neither politicians nor the electorate must endure a political ban as they doing now.
In fact, now is the time for the regime to act as a caretaker civilian-like government to ensure a fair and enabling environment in the lead-up to the poll. Instead, the NCPO continues to flex its authoritarian muscles.
Late last month, it dispatched groups of soldiers to observe and monitor politicians while they were in the field recruiting party members. This kind of military observation entails state intimidation and manipulation.
If the regime wishes to have such proceedings observed, it can embrace help from non-governmental and international organisations. Unfortunately, Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai on Wednesday dismissed such a possibility, saying the election is an internal matter.
For Gen Prayut, who has been active in the field meeting the electorate, he can no longer keep his political future a secret. It’s about time for him to reveal whether he will contest for the prime minister's position.
Gen Prayut must not wait until next month to lift the political ban, otherwise his pitch to the international community that the upcoming poll will be free and fair will end up proving to be nothing other than another hollow promise.
