The government sought Wednesday to reassure the international community that it would make efforts to shorten its stay in office by up to four months, after the charter draft rejection pushed elections.
Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam told foreign diplomats at a briefing that the government would try to cut its prolonged 20-month stay in power.
Representatives from 66 countries and 11 international organizations attended the political roadmap briefing Wednesday at the Foreign Ministry, including 31 ambassadors to Thailand.
"The process of drafting the constitution can be reduced by cutting each step by one or two months," Mr Wissanu said.
Although elections seemed far away, the process could be cut to 16-18 months, he added. The government previously outlined the time frame for drafting a new charter and the roadmap to elections under a "6-4-6-4" formula: namely, six months for constitution drafting, four to prepare for a public referendum, another six for drafting new organic laws, and the last four for election preparations.
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According to this roadmap, if the second draft sails through a referendum then fresh elections will take place in June 2017, and a new government formed the following month. US embassy spokesperson Melissa Sweeney said the US maintains its stance of urging the government to return Thailand to democracy as soon as possible.
"Since the 2014 coup, we have urged the Thai government to put in place an open and inclusive political process that encourages the growth of democratic institutions and returns Thailand to democracy as soon as possible," Ms Sweeney told the Bangkok Post following the briefing.
Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai said diplomats asked for more clarification on the new time frame of the roadmap.
In a separate interview, Mr Wissanu said Thailand wanted to communicate with the international community and help them understand the country's situation.
"The government doesn't want diplomats to follow the situation from the media alone. More importantly, we don't want them to see the '6-4-6-4' formula as an attempt to prolong our stay in power. We need to communicate with them," he said.
Mr Wissanu said the charter drafting process could be completed within five months, instead of the planned six, while drafting organic laws could be completed one month earlier. However, if the drafters discard the previous charter and start from scratch, they will need six months to complete their task, he said.