Caretaker Education Minister Chaturon Chaisaeng has warned a meaningful, constitutional election is unlikely to happen for a long time.
He cited as the reason the Constitutional Court's decision on Friday to void the Feb 2 election and its earlier move to protect the anti-government People's Democratic Reform Committee (PDRC).
"The next election date, now matter when it is set, will be meaningless because it will be postponed one way or another indefinitely," he wrote on his Facebook page shortly after the court's ruling.
He also warned of "great losses" for Thai society as a result of the decision.
Mr Chaturon listed eight political implications stemming from the court's ruling.
"1. The charter has been rewritten to enhance the powers of ombudsmen and the Constitution Court, allowing them to void an election.
2. Election non-believers now have more tools to make sure a poll will never end so long as there is no guarantee the Democrat Party will win and form the government.
3. An election can from now on be put off indefinitely. All it takes is for someone to topple it the way the PDRC did and it can always be claimed that the election must be held on the same date or be nullified.
4. The Democrats are given another chance to run in the next election and the party will join the race only when it is confident of victory such as when politicians from the government camp have been eliminated. But it is likely the Democrats will not run anyway because they view they still cannot win and they fear antagonising Suthep (Thaugsuban) and his men.
5. When the Democrats do not run, the election will never end. Independent bodies and the Constitution Court will "deal with" the government and politicians from its camp to create a "political vacuum" and pave the way for the use of Section 3 and 7 to appoint an unelected government and implement reforms before the election.
6. All parties now have a chance to review their options for the next election to encourage more people to support the poll and strengthen democracy.
7. If Thai society cannot resort to elections as a tool to resolve conflicts, the constitution will be scrapped, leading to more conflicts, violence and eventually, a coup.
8. Such a coup will not be the solution or the end of the strife but the beginning of yet more conflicts, violence and great losses for the Thai society."