On 1 December 2016 the President of the National Assembly formally invited Crown Prince Vajiralongkorn to ascend to the throne as king. Later that night Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said in a televised statement that the coronation would "be at his [the king's] discretion" and would not take place until after 26 October 2017, when the royal cremation of his father was planned. For most Thai people it was the first coronation in living memory. The date of the king's coronation was widely expected to signal the resumption of politics following a year-long mourning period for King Rama IX, with an election to follow soon after. The date for a general election, in which the ruling junta, National Council for Peace and Order (who took power through a coup d'état in 2014), promised in a "road map" to civilian rule was to be postponed indefinitely until after the coronation ceremony was supposed to take place. However, some voiced doubts over this timeline and others were highly critical of the government's use of the coronation as a tool to delay the election, which was initially supposed to happen in 2016. Throughout 2018 several anti-government protests were held by various groups demanding an election as soon as possible, as the government had not set a firm date for the coronation and, subsequently, the election.