The gag order issued by the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) after the 2014 coup which prohibits political gatherings of more than five people will be a key obstacle for parties when preparing for the next general election.
The springboard for many arrests and suppression of freedom of speech, the order also bars party meetings. With key organic laws related to general elections being drafted, it is time for the NCPO to revoke the gag order.
Since the charter passed the referendum in August, the Constitution Drafting Committee (CDC) has been drafting organic laws on election processes and parties.
There are calls by politicians, the media, academics and civil society for the NCPO to allow an open space for political debates and enhance public participation in the law-making process by revoking the NCPO order.
Suranand Vejjajiva was secretary-general to the prime minister during the Yingluck Shinawatra government and is now a political analyst.
However, when recently asked by reporters about revoking the order, Deputy Prime Minister and deputy NCPO head Prawit Wongsuwon seemed upset and was direct in his answer.
"No, not yet. When the time comes, permission will be granted," said Gen Prawit.
"It will be another year before the election. Why do we need any political activities now? There are more than enough open forums. What more do you want?" he asked.
Meechai Ruchuphan, chairman of the CDC, last week played down concerns the draft organic law on political parties will not give sufficient time for parties to prepare for elections. "The CDC needs to ensure parties will have enough time. If it [time for preparation] is too short, parties will face difficulties," he said. He did not offer any definite timetable, however.
The path toward an election could be long and full of barriers. Under the charter, 10 organic laws must be drafted within 240 days of the promulgation of the constitution. Of course, drafting them could take less time -- if the regime deems it beneficial to have an earlier election.
The CDC will then submit the drafts to the National Legislative Assembly which has 60 days to deliberate them. After the laws are passed, an election must be called within 150 days or five months.
The means and ends toward a return to democracy are equally important. There are two major concerns which should be pointed out.
First, the NCPO and its apparatus are still set on stymieing parties and culling the number of politicians elected to public office. There are proposals for the CDC to ''reset'' conditions for parties, especially for the present ones, the Pheu Thai Party in particular.
For instance, there could be a change in the qualifications required for becoming a party member. Each party will have to verify its membership lists in a certain period of time. If they are unable to do so, they will be disqualified from submitting candidates to run in elections.
For Pheu Thai, for third incarnation of the disqualified Thai Rak Thai Party which at its peak had more than 10 million members, verifying its 130,000 registered members would still be a difficult process, especially when the ban on political meetings remains in place.
An executive of Pheu Thai told me they have ''volunteers'' working for the party but none of them are registered members since they are afraid they would be targeted by the NCPO.
Debates linger on how executive members of a party should be held accountable for any wrongdoing of the party's candidates during an election.
A CDC proposal is still on the table specifying that an individual party member's election fraud could eventually result in dissolution of the party. A moral hazard of sorts; the more members a political party has, the more susceptible it is to a conspiracy.
It will discourage parties from signing up many members and asking for widespread support. Instead, they will try to preserve themselves, remaining small and thus easily manipulated.
This works against democratic principles where parties should be open spaces and representatives of constituencies.
An organic law governing the election of members of parliament will be drafted later, once the drafting of the bills on political parties and the Election Commission are completed.
There is speculation this law could impose strict control on election campaigning by candidates, stipulating what a candidate can and cannot say and where they are allowed to place their campaign posters or how their campaigns should be aired on TV or advertised in the media. The tight constraints will make it easier for the state to influence election outcomes.
More importantly, the regime is setting out to control the development agenda through the 20-year National Strategic Plan, a constitutional requirement, which will be specified in a law yet to be drafted. The law will ensure continuity of the long-term development plan dictated by the regime.
Mr Meechai said the law will not impose any punishment against an elected government failing to follow the plan. However, he insisted that such a failure will be interpreted as a breach of the constitution which is subject to constitutional punishment.
In addition to the 20-year strategy, the government also adopted the five-year National Economic and Social Development Plan. Both of them are written by technocrats, leaving no room for parties and representatives of the people to propose anything.
Taxpayers are not allowed to participate in the processes that will determine how their tax money will be allocated and spent. The fate of over 65 million Thai citizens is set by a few.
The CDC mentioned that stakeholders will be involved in the drafting of the laws and the strategic plan. But every indication points to such an opportunity being limited, if not closed off altogether, for all sectors of society. Once written and printed, it will become another shelved bureaucratic plan.
Worse, it could become a political tool to impeach elected governments if they decide to follow their own policies, similar to what the Yingluck Shinawatra administration faced in 2014 when it proposed a progressive vision of infrastructure development under "Thailand 2020" programme, the financing for which was then shot down by a Constitution Court ruling.
The political impasses of the past decade have damaged the country. Dictating what the political process and its eventual outcome should be will not resolve the turmoil. The more the regime attempts to control, the more resistance will mount.
Conflicts of ideas should be resolved democratically. The best way to get everyone on board is to let them participate freely in open forums. Issues can be debated and decided through free and fair elections, not as pre-set conditions.
The regime should allow broader participation in those processes. Parties themselves need to reform to regain the trust of voters. If politicians stick to their past empty rhetoric, then they will be even more discredited.
Let parties organise. An early start will create opportunities for new parties to emerge as alternatives. Parties will rise and fall on their own merit. Let debates be free and trust voters' judgement. First of all, let's revoke the political gag order.