National elections delayed until 2016

Thailand's junta confirmed on Wednesday that elections will not be held until September 2016, dealing a further blow to hopes that the kingdom's generals will swiftly hand back power to a civilian government.

When then-army chief and current Prime Minister Prayut Chan-O-Cha swept to power in a coup in May 2014, he initially said he hoped to hold elections within 15 months.

But that timetable has repeatedly slipped as the junta rewrites the country's constitution, a process critics have described as an attempt to consolidate an unelected elite's control over Thai politics once new polls are held.