Paetongtarn "Ung Ing" Shinawatra, a Pheu Thai Party prime ministerial candidate, said the party would not work with anyone involved in the two previous coups.
Ms Paetongtarn, the youngest daughter of fugitive former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, was speaking as she led other key party figures in outlining the party's election campaign strategy during a press conference on Tuesday.
After being asked whether her popularity rating in a recent opinion survey dropped due to the party being non-committal on whether it would ally itself with its political rivals to form a coalition government after the May 14 general election, she said she does not like military coups, particularly the two previous ones.
Ms Paetongtarn was referring to the May 22, 2014 coup led by then-army chief Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha and the 2006 coup led by Gen Sonthi Boonyaratglin, who served as the army chief at the time.
"Look at my face. This is the face that doesn't like coups," said Ms Paetongtarn, Pheu Thai's chief adviser on public participation and innovation, and head of the "Pheu Thai Family".
"We did not give a clear answer previously because we wanted to show respect to the people as the election date was not fixed yet," she said. "If you ask me if we want to join hands with those involved in the two previous coups. The answer is clear in itself," she said, inferring a negative reply.
A new National Institute of Development Administration (Nida) poll released on Sunday showed Gen Prayut still trailing Ms Paetongtarn of Pheu Thai and Pita Limjaroenrat of the Move Forward Party.
Ms Paetongtarn leads with 35.7%, but her support was down from 38.2% in Nida's first pre-election poll in March. In second place, Mr Pita, with 20.25%, was up from 15.75% previously, while Gen Prayut fell to 13.60% from 15.65%.
Previously, the rumour mill went into overdrive about a secret deal between Pheu Thai and the Palang Pracharath Party.
Under this, they would form a coalition government and nominate Deputy Prime Minister and PPRP leader Prawit Wongsuwon as the next prime minister after the election.
Also at the press conference, Ms Paetongtarn said voters have complained that the party's election candidates did not show up and meet them in their constituencies often enough, while there were not many campaign posters in their areas.
She said the party has acted on their feedback and told poll candidates to be more active in campaigning and meeting with the people.
As for the campaign posters, she said the party has put up the posters in line with the regulations set by the Election Commission. However, it will roll out new posters giving more details about its campaign policies, such as the 10,000-baht digital wallets.
