A former chief of the junta's reform council has urged Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai not to resign under pressure over his wife's potentially unconstitutional shareholding.
Seree Suwannapanon, former president of the now-defunct National Reform Steering Assembly (NRSA), said on Saturday that Mr Don should wait until the Constitutional Court rules on his case.
"If he quits now, new questions will emerge as to whether his past actions were illegitimate, which will further complicate the issue," he said.
But if the Constitutional Court orders him to resign, there would not be grounds for a review of decisions made while the minister held office, he said.
In any case, Mr Seree said he believed there was a good chance that Mr Don, a veteran diplomat who has worked in the public service since 1974, could keep his seat.
Section 263 exempts the ministers in office before the 2017 constitution took effect on April 6, 2017 from the shareholding rule in question, he claimed.
The Election Commission (EC) recently voted that Mr Don might be disqualified as a minister because his wife, Narirat (Bunnag) Pramudwinai, owns more than 5% of a company and this holding was not reported to the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), as required under the 2017 charter and the 2000 law on the management of partnerships and shareholdings by ministers.
The name of the company in question has not been revealed but Isara News quoted Business Development Department filings showing that Mrs Narirat was a shareholder of two small real estate companies: Panawong Co Ltd and Panawong Realty Co Ltd. She reduced her holdings to 4% in 2018 from more than 5% earlier.
The EC will forward the case to the Constitutional Court for a final ruling.
Some politicians, mainly Pheu Thai MPs, have since urged Mr Don to resign. Activist Srisuwan Janya also says the minister should quit to show the proper "spirit".
Mr Don was among nine ministers named in a petition filed with the EC last year by Pheu Thai legal officer Ruangkrai Leekitwattana, who demanded an investigation into the shareholdings of cabinet ministers. The EC looked into the petition and cleared eight ministers.
Meanwhile, EC secretary-general Pol Col Charungwit Poomma on Friday declined to confirm or deny that a vote had been held on Mr Don's case.
He was responding to reports that EC president Supachai Somcharoen had expressed surprise about the news and said the EC had yet to hold a meeting on the issue.