"I think political parties can do many things now [despite the ban], although what they are doing may not be as broad as desired because the situation has not been completely normalised yet," he said.

Sonthi said he was willing to accommodate any requests to relax the rules if parties alerted him to any specific activities that needed to be done but could not be accomplished because of the ban.

He spoke one day after Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont promised to allow sufficient time for campaigning and hinted at lifting the ban as early as September.

Sonthi confirmed that Surayud would have the final say on when party activities would be allowed.

He also said the Thai Rak Thai Party might have criticised him unfairly for lacking understanding of democratic rule.

"To me, democracy means everyone must abide by the rule of law and uphold the constitution," he said in reference to the holding of the general election in accordance with the 2006 Interim Constitution.

The former ruling party had attacked him for being slow to lift the ban, claiming it would not have enough time to draft campaign platforms.

In regard to speculation about a rift between the junta and the interim government, the junta leader said he had not planned on replacing Surayud.

Machima Group leader Somsak Thepsuthin said his faction had cancelled a plan to visit constituents in the Northeast this month in order to avoid fuelling tensions in light of anticoup protests.

"Machima wants to avoid any misunderstanding," he said.

Somsak said he was confident that Surayud would honour his pledge on the timetable for the general election.

"By setting the voting day, the prime minister has salvaged his reputation, but I wonder why charter writers, who are mostly from the academia, appear slow to complete their job," he said.

"These academics take a lot of time writing out constitutional provisions, as if they are minding some powerful figures or waiting for violence to erupt," he added.

Democrat Party deputy leader Alongkorn Pollabutr said Surayud had his party's full support on the election timetable, but suggested lifting the ban on party activities in June instead of September.

"I think the government should also spell out all key dates for constitution drafting and the holding of the referendum," he said.

Alongkorn said charter writers should enshrine the sufficiency economy theory in the new constitution.

The Nation