The cancellation of the long-promised meeting this month between the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and political parties is a worrying development. Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam rushed in to assure that there will be such a meeting, eventually. This delay is a serious matter. Mr Wissanu, backed strongly by Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha, said the NCPO-politicians meeting would bring an end to the ban on political activities. The indefinite delay on this meeting thus keeps the public in the dark about just what the government and the junta are up to.
The announcement there will be no meeting between politicians and the NCPO is only the most dramatic in the past week about alleged but hugely unclear "problems" the regime is experiencing. Mr Wissanu, who said local elections would be held this year as a sort of "practice session" for national polls, now has backtracked and says such elections may not be held in 2018. Last Friday, out of the blue, the Election Commission's secretary-general said the EC needs two months to redraw the boundaries of constituencies in 20 provinces. The election for Bangkok governor also is on indefinite hold.
Any one of these problems is an obvious risk to the iron-clad promises made by Gen Prayut and his closest cabinet advisers of an election in February. If they are taken together, however, they add up to a serious problem -- for the public. Gen Prayut must clarify immediately whether his guarantee of an election in February still holds. Because Mr Wissanu and others have provided a list of roadblocks littering the prime minister's roadmap.
