Thai PM Prayuth paves way for first election since 2014 coup, allowing political parties to rally members

Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said on Tuesday he would use a special order that gives the military sweeping powers to allow political parties to prepare for a 2018 general election.
Major political parties had urged the government for months to lift a ban on all political activity to allow parties to prepare for the vote.
“The government will have to use Article 44 to solve this problem [political activity deadlock],” Prayuth told reporters, referring to a constitutional…