Press Release

Royal Thai Embassy, Colombo

Current Situation in Thailand

Since the seizure of the administrative power on 22 May 2014,
the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) has worked hard to bring back happiness to the Thai society. The NCPO announced the 3-step Roadmap to bring back true democratic system to Thailand.

Thailand is nearly at the end of the first phase of the Roadmap, reconciliation period. People throughout the country from all ways of life with different views in politics have gradually participated in this reconciliation process.

The NCPO is now proactively laying the ground work for national reform to be taken up in Phase 2 of the Roadmap. The provisional constitution has been enacted since 22 July 2014. This paves way for the establishment of national administration and legislation as follows:

1) The National Legislative Assembly (NLA) Up to 220 members from the non-partisan public, private, social, academic, professional, and other sectors will be selected by NCPO in August 2014 to function as the House of Representatives and the Senate.

2) The Interim Cabinet A Prime Minister with 35 Ministers will be appointed in August 2014. The cabinet will start administering the country in September, with the primary aim to pushing forward the national reform and reconciliation.

3) The Reform Council 250 members from all sectors in the society will be selected in September 2014 to overhaul national administration, the legal and judicial systems and to provide inputs for drafting a new Constitution.

4) The Constitution Drafting Committee 36 members of the Committee will be assigned to draft a new Constitution and present it to the National Legislative Assembly for consideration.

If the reconciliation and reform processes are carried out as planned, Thailand should be able to achieve the final phase of the Roadmap: the democratic general elections in the latter half of 2015.

Thailand wishes to express its sincere appreciation to the international community for understanding that the current situation is the timely opportunity for Thailand to strengthen our democratic institutions through reconciliation and reform.

 Royal Thai Embassy, Colombo

 29 July 2014