<div> <div>According to a Deputy Prime Minister, the ruling junta is preparing to restore local elections, on condition that candidates do not criticise the junta in their campaigns</div> <div>&nbsp;</div> <div>On 14 November 2017, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam stated that the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) is considering local elections in some areas. </div></div>

<p>Thai people living outside the kingdom will have no vote in the public referendum on the junta-sponsored draft constitution.</p> <p>Thai people outside the country who are of an eligible age to vote in elections have not been given the right to participate in the 7 August 2016 referendum on the draft constitution,&nbsp;<a href="https://www.facebook.com/BBCThai/">BBC Thai reported</a>.</p>

<p dir="ltr">A Deputy Prime Minister has said that a key member of a progressive law academic group might be prosecuted under the Referendum Act for campaigning for ‘vote no’.</p>

<p>The deputy head of the junta said that online critics of new charter could be charged under the Computer Crime Act while the Interior Minister said it is necessary to ban political parties from campaigning about the new charter.&nbsp;</p> <p>According to&nbsp;<a href="http://www.matichon.co.th/news/40597">Matichon Online</a>, Gen Prawit Wongsuwan, Minister of Interior and Deputy Prime Minister, on Tuesday, 16 February 2016, told the media that political parties are still banned from holding party meetings about the new draft constitution.</p>

<p>Thai military officers detained for an ‘attitude adjustment’ session a political activist who accused the Prime Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of cronyism.</p> <p>Military officers on at 5:13 pm Thursday 15 October 2015 paid a visit to Srisuwan Janya, Secretary-General of the Thai Constitution Protection Association before taking him to the First Army Region Headquarters on Ratchadamnoen Road in central Bangkok.</p>

<p>The many and various oversight mechanisms of the new constitution became ever more tangled over the last week with the revelation that the National Anti-Corruption Commission has initiated an investigation into alleged irregularities at the National Ethics Assembly after a petition by members of the Senate. &nbsp;In turn, the Senate announced it would pursue impeachment proceedings against the National Ethics Assembly in response to a report from the National Anti-Corruption Commission looking into unethical behaviour by the ethics watchdog.</p>

<p dir="ltr">Thai junta has thanked North Korean for understanding Thailand political situation, while the North Korea has purposed Thailand to open the Thai embassy in its capital.</p>