Pheu Thai Party Statement

RE: Call to completely unlock
politics to allow a free and fair election

in the interests of the country and
the people

The Prime Minister and head of the
NCPO has said many times, the most recent being on August 21, that an election
will take place in February 2019 if the country is peaceful. The government and
the NCPO have maintained many times that they have succeeded in pacifying the
country since they seized power in 2014, so they may not claim a lack of peace as
the reason to postpone the election further. Also, at the present moment, the
government and the NCPO are now coming into their fifth year of power, a longer
period than any elected government. Pheu Thai Party has the opinion that the
people still do not have rights to elect their representatives to administer
the country, depriving the country on an elected government for a long period,
which has inevitably affected the basic principles of governing in a democratic
system, and the confidence of the global community, and has been so since the
seizure of power.

There remains a mere six months to
the election, in which every party must operate according to the terms and laws
of the Constitution. The orders of the head of the NCPO and other components of
the government and the NCPO are tasked with bringing the country to a free,
fair and credible election. The party would thus like to call on the government
and the NCPO to revoke the NCPO Chief’s Order no. 3/2588 which forbids
political gatherings of more than five people, and Order no. 57/2557 which
forbids political parties to carry out political activities, as well as any
other conditions and prohibitions in NCPO Order NO. 53/2560. This complete
cancellation is not just “unlocking”. Pheu Thai Party disagrees with Deputy
Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam’s announcement that there would be two phases
of “unlocking”, the first being a period of 90 days after the law to elect MPs
becomes effective, with some unlocking, such as allowing party meetings, setting
up party branch offices and doing primary elections, while the second phase is
after this 90 day period is over, when there will be complete unlocking,
enabling political parties to do any kind of activities legally.

The party thus demands a complete
unlocking with immediate effect, for the following reasons.

1) The
political parties need time to put together policies which will be considered
by the people during an election. In particular, the party must hold consultative
meetings and visit local areas to meet the people and hear their opinions,
which is consistent with the guidelines of political reforms specified in the
Constitution. These specific measures to create policies, sending candidates
and making party regulations which require members to participate on a broad basis.
This does not include the party’s need to study whether a policy announced complies
with the many petty conditions and limitations specified by the NCPO in the
Constitution. All of these operations take time and this period of just 6
months is inadequate, in comparison with the NCPO and the “five rivers” which
were able to use both governmental budget and personnel organs in their
operations, and still required four years to lay plans of national strategy and
plans of reform in various aspects.

2) Political
parties must operate according to the new conditions and orders of the NCPO, whether finding new members to
replace old members who no longer qualify, setting up new party branches after
old branches were dissolved according to NCPO Order no. 53/2560 on political
meetings, elections for a party’s executive committee or arranging primary
elections. There is still a lack of clarity on how this will be formulated, and
these operations will all take a considerable period of time.

3) In free,
fair and credible elections, the public must have rights and freedoms, and they must come from a fair contest.
In a free and fair election, the people must be able to determine their
political future by choosing whatever political party they want. To exercise their
intentions, the people must have their complete rights and freedoms according
the Constitution as a precondition. Limiting the rights and freedoms of the
people, and in particular their freedoms of political expression is shutting
the door to those intentions. Furthermore, every party contesting in the election must operate under the same
rules, with no one having an unfair advantage over others. Therefore, all
parties should be allowed to carry out political activities equally without
discrimination, or differentiating between old and new parties.

4) Unlocking
politics and clarity in the election will create confidence for the country consistent with the people’s
needs. This is because the time frame for an election has been specified on
many occasions but continually postponed, where eventually it has been stated
that there will be an election in February 2019. The government should use this
opportunity to create confidence in the country’s politics and economy, as
clarity in an election date will enable the private sector, investors and the
people to make investment and future plans. This will benefit Thailand and the
majority of Thais, in compliance with the people’s wishes as reflected in
various opinion surveys and polls that they wish for an election for the
country to progress and find a way out.

Pheu Thai
Party puts the nation’s interests before those of the party. A complete
unlocking of politics for political parties to carry out various activities is
not demanding benefits for politicians. It is rather a necessity required to
create confidence for the country and for the election to proceed freely,
fairly and credibly, to bring the country to prosperity and progress, and
create happiness for the people. The country will thus progress, and the people will benefit.

Pheu Thai Party
August 23, 2018