By DPA
Bangkok : Thailand's junta leader said the promised national elections might be delayed until next year, local media reported Sunday.
General Sonthi Bunyaratglin, who led the coup that overthrew a controversial government in September, said that drafting a new constitution and making arrangements for a national election might extend into 2008.
The vow to hold fresh elections appears to have partially defused rising protest against the junta. A demonstration called for by activists demanding an immediate return to civilian rule drew less than one hundred protestors in central Bangkok on Saturday.
The caretaker prime minister appointed by the junta, Surayud Chulanont, won plaudits by claiming the election originally scheduled for December could be brought forward by one month.
But the committee creating a new constitution designed to stop a future prime minister becoming as powerful as the ousted Thaksin Shinawatra is struggling to meet its deadlines. The commission responsible for holding clean elections has also signalled that its timetable may be unfeasible.
A spokesman for the constitution drafting committee, Thongthong Chantarangsu, told the Nation that three key organic laws dealing with elections and political parties must be completed by August 20th. The Constitution Drafting Assembly decided on Saturday to extend the deadline for elections to the lower house and the senate elections to 150 days, from the publication of the organic laws in the Royal Gazette – allowing elections to be held next year.
Reactions to the idea that elections might be delayed have so far been muted. The former prime minister and advisor to the Democrat Party, Chuan Leekpai, told the Bangkok Post a slight delay would be OK if it means a better constitution and fair elections.
Critics of the military junta fear that its leaders want to continue to hold a veto over civilian rule because of its controversial bid to enact special powers permitting military intervention during "emergencies."
However most critics now also concede that the military will permit free elections, having already seen the banning of former Prime Minister Thaksin's Thai Rak Thai party and its entire political leadership by a panel of court judges.