PHEU THAI PARTY STATEMENT

A CALL ON THE NCPO TO
OBSERVE THE CONSTITUTION AND THE LAW

BY A”ING THE NCPO
ANNOUNCEMENT NO. 57/2557

Following the
calls made by political parties and by some academics to have the National
Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) lift its ban on political activities or
annul its announcement no. 57/2557 so
that political parties can conduct activities after the organic law governing
political parties, B.E. 2560,
came into effect on October 8,
2017, the head of the NCPO had earlier said that he
would consider this matter after the royal cremation ceremony. However, on 31^st October and again
on 7^th November, the NCPO gave new reasons for not lifting the
ban on grounds that peace and order is not yet restored in the country; some parties are still at loggerheads; there
are distortion of facts; two organic laws have yet to be passed; the sourcing
of the 7 committee members
for the Election Commission is not yet complete and the NCPO said that it may
have to use some special measures or other legal means to resolve the problems
that may arise in the future.

Pheu Thai Party
deems that the calls made by the political parties and academics to lift the
ban is not to benefit the political parties or politicians, but it is a call
for the NCPO to remove the obstacles so that political parties can carry  out their duties within the legal time
frame.  It is merely a call for the NCPO
and the head of the NCPO to follow the constitution and the law as Section 45
stipulates that individuals shall have the freedom to establish political
parties, in line with the democratic government in which the King is the Head
of State.  Now that the organic law
governing the political parties have come into effect, which allows for the
establishment of political parties and enforces that the parties must take
several actions without any exceptions, it is then the NCPO and its leader’s
responsibility to ensure that these activities can be carried out according to
the law. By banning the parties’ political activities, the NCPO itself is not
following the constitution nor the law. 
The crucial point is that the law has specified several actions that political
parties must fulfill, all of which are important issues that will affect those
who run for Members of the House of Representatives, which includes drawing
up the regulations; checking the eligibility of its members; setting up the
party’s branches and selecting representatives for the provinces.  If all the required steps are not fulfilled,
the parties may not be able to field their candidates.  Another important issue is in drawing up the
party’s policies which requires that the parties must show where their budgets
will come from; the parties must listen to the voice of the people and the
voice of its party members. To do this,
the parties will have to visit the areas to gather information in order to draw
up their policies.  All the above will need a period of time to
achieve, so the NCPO’s ban on political activities may be a way or an excuse to
defer the election, as with other excuses used in the past.  This will lead the society to believe that
the NCPO is playing with politics and taking political advantage in order to
pave way to have “an outsider” become prime minister, as the constitution has
made provisions for, or to pave way for a party that the NCPO supports to be
fully ready for the election.When considering the excuses that the NCPO
announced on 7^th November, as stated above, the excuses used to
continue the ban on political parties’ activities are absurd and groundless as
maintaining peace and order is already within the NCPO’s and the government’s
authority.  In the past, the NCPO had
exercised this authority to the full; therefore, it should not tie up the issue
of having political parties observe the law and the issue of maintaining peace
and order together.  As for the other two
organic laws on the election of house representatives and senators, these are
different from the ones governing the political parties while the other excuse
on sourcing the Election Commission members has nothing to do with the
political parties’ activities as the present members are still active and have
even drawn up drafts that are almost complete. 
The NCPO announced that it may have to use additional measures and use
the authority that it has to solve the various obstacles in the future – shows
that the NCPO itself also sees that problems may arise from this political ban.

It can then be said that all the excuses
made by the NCPO were made to avoid returning power to the people and to defer
the election further in order to gain a political advantage. Pheu Thai Party
sees that the country is going through a time of hardship; therefore, the NCPO
should not resort to excuses in the hope of prolonging its stay in power.  Expediting the return of power to the people
will be best way forward.

Pheu Thai Party deems that the NCPO must abide by
the constitution and the law by an”ing the announcement no. 57/2557 without any conditions attached so that the
political parties can take actions they need to, as required by law.  The NCPO has always called on everyone to
respect and observe the law, therefore, it must also do the same, otherwise it
will be seen as being above the constitution and the law.

For
the kind information

Pheu
Thai Party

November 8, 2017