Palang Pracharath Party (PPRP) leader Gen Prawit Wongsuwon reiterated his intention to push for national reconciliation during a video call with university students.
In a video clip posted on Tuesday on the "FC Lung Pom" Facebook fan page for Gen Prawit, he addresses a group of Thammasat University students at the Rangsit campus via video.
At one point, Gen Prawit said he opposes the use of violence as a way to deal with conflict, including over political issues.
The deputy prime minister said he believes dialogue is the key to strengthening national unity, which is necessary to allow Thailand to fully focus on development.
Gen Prawit said the PPRP is willing to dialogue with all sides to forge unity.
When asked by the students about how a group of anti-government protesters and PPRP security guards were recently involved in a violent confrontation underneath Bangkok's Rama VIII Bridge, he said if all sides respect the rules and try to sit down and talk, such violence could have been avoided.
"My party and I are determined to do just that," Gen Prawit said about resolving a political conflict through dialogue.
"We are willing to listen to different opinions," he said.
"Even though no one can force someone else to change his or her opinion, what we can strive to do is avoid violence."
Gen Prawit added he did not expect the students to vote for him in the coming election if they did not want to. However, he did encourage them to give precedence to building national unity.
His Facebook fan page said he is eager to reach out to the public, particularly young activists, and initiate talks on national unity with all parties across the political divide.
Gen Prawit, during his time in politics, has assumed the role of peacemaker when politics had taken a highly polarised turn, according to his fan page.
"He should be enjoying his retirement," the fan page said. "But instead, he is still at it, trying to bring about unity."
Critics, however, are suspicious of Gen Prawit's intentions, saying the unity issue may be his way of making the PPRP appear as a party willing and able to form the next government with other parties from any political bloc.
