Bangkok: Thailand's military-led reconciliation talks, aimed at mending the country's political divide ahead of elections next year, will start next week and last three months, the junta said yesterday.
The junta announced on Wednesday that the elections it had promised for this year would be postponed until 2018. It has billed the talks as proof that it is serious about a return to democracy.
Thailand's junta overthrew the last elected prime minister in 2014, saying it had intervened to end street protests and years of political turmoil. It has promised to restore democracy to the Southeast Asian country.
It set up a reconciliation panel of generals and experts to improve relations between political factions.
"We aim to start reconciliation talks on February 14, the day of love," Lieutenant General Kongcheep Tantravanich, a defence ministry spokesman, said. "We want the reconciliation to happen before, during, and after elections."
The Democrat Party said it believes reconciliation can be achieved.
