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BANGKOK : Thailand's military chief on Tuesday said general elections would go ahead this year as planned, contradicting earlier comments that a return to democracy might be postponed until 2008.
General Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who led the coup that unseated premier Thaksin Shinawatra last September, said Thailand would stick to the timetable laid out by the military-installed government.
"The election date is still in accordance with Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont, who set it for later this year," Sonthi told reporters.
The Election Commission and the prime minister last month announced that a referendum would be held on Thailand's new draft constitution on August 19, with general elections to follow on November 25.
But it soon became clear that the dates were not set in stone, with Sonthi telling local media that the head of the military-appointed parliament had expressed concern that polls might not go ahead this year at all.
Sonthi said Tuesday that he had simply been reflecting the opinions of academics when he made the comments, and said that setting the election date was not his responsibility.
"The actual election date depends on the consideration of Constitution Drafting Assembly and the Election Commission," he said.
Sonthi has urged people to back the controversial new constitution drafted by a panel appointed by the junta, but the charter faces stiff opposition.
Thaksin's former Thai Rak Thai political party, which still has some 14 million members, are set to urge people to reject the constitution, which analysts and politicians say hands to much power to unelected bodies.
If the constitution fails to pass the referendum, the military has reserved the power to impose its own charter, but analysts fear that could plunge the country into fresh political turmoil.
Surayud said Sunday that the polls would depend on the referendum, but he said that "if possible, we should keep our promise" to hold elections before the end of the year. - AFP/ch
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