The 150-day time frame for holding a general election under by the constitution does not cover election result announcements, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam has said.
Mr Wissanu was responding to questions raised by sacked election commissioner Somchai Srisutthiyakorn over the timing of the poll.
Mr Wissanu insisted that the 150-day countdown to the poll from the law on MP elections taking effect has nothing to do with the EC seeking to issue yellow or red cards for election law violations afterwards.
A yellow or red card can be issued after the 150-day deadline, Mr Wissanu said, adding that Mr Somchai has no authority to interpret the issue.
Mr Somchai recently took to Facebook to question whether the 150 days included the announcement of election results.
He expressed concern that if politicians who lose petition the Constitutional Court to interpret the matter and the court rules that the timeframe includes results announcements, the election would be voided as a result.
The EC would be held accountable for 4 billion baht in costs incurred by a voided election, Mr Somchai wrote.
If the EC wants to play safe, it should set a poll date within 90 and 100 days of the bill coming into effect, and earmark another 50 or 60 days for election results announcements, Mr Somchai wrote.
Mr Somchai was removed as a commissioner by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) for "inappropriate conduct" in an order published in the Royal Gazette and announced on March 19.
According to the order signed by Gen Prayut in his capacity as the NCPO chief, Mr Somchai was not fit to serve as an EC member. Personal opinions he expressed were deemed to have caused confusion at a critical time, it said.
On March 8, the last two organic bills on electing MPs and selecting senators cleared the National Legislative Assembly (NLA).
The next step is to submit the two bills for royal endorsement, which can take up to 90 days.
If the one on MP elections is endorsed and published in the Royal Gazette it will not take effect for another 90 days, after which the 150-day countdown to the election can begin.
This is because the NLA voted in January to extend enforcement of the bill by three months. This effectively pushes the poll date back from the previous announcement of November.
Nonetheless, critics are still fretting about further possible delays if someone petitions the Constitutional Court to rule on the constitutionality of the two bills.
Udom Rathamarit, a member of the Constitution Drafting Committee, said Monday that Mr Somchai wrote to ask the CDC about the issue when he was still an EC member.
The CDC had already clarified that is the ballots that must be cast within 150 days, and the 150-day limit does not include a need to announce the election results, Mr Udom said.
In light of this, the EC will not be held accountable because it can cite the opinion of the CDC, he said.
Meanwhile, Deputy Prime Minister Prawit Wongsuwon warned on Monday against pro-election groups which plan to stage a demonstration outside Government House on May 5 calling for an election by the end of the year and for the dissolution of the NCPO.
Gen Prawit said that the government has a clear roadmap that will lead to an election in February next year.
In another development, the Pheu Thai Party has contacted its members and asked them to confirm their status and pay membership fees before the end of April.
