Treat all political parties fairly, says Abhisit

Treat all political parties fairly, says Abhisit

By The Nation

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva

Democrat Party leader Abhisit Vejjajiva on Wednesday urged the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) that to create a fair playing field for all parties, it should set clear rules in its upcoming Article 44 order to allow political parties to perform specific tasks.

“The NCPO needs to open the political floor equally for everyone,” Abhisit said. “State authority should not be exercised to favour any specific political bloc.”

He spoke after Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha revealed on Tuesday that he would soon use his absolute power under Article 44 to launch an order to allow parties to run “administrative tasks” in line with the political party bill.

The order will also amend some articles in the bill to extend timelines required for parties to prepare themselves for next year’s election.

Abhisit said that it was not his concern that the upcoming order would give prospective parties the privilege to hold a one-time meeting but not allow existing parties to do so.

“There are always new parties emerging in every election. The only thing is that they should play fairly by the system,” he said.

Abhisit said he believed that this NCPO order did not aim to buy time to delay the election. “This is just first step of preparation for the parties. There is no reason it should affect the NCPO’s road map [to democracy],” he added.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/politics/30334394

 

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