Caretaker Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will submit an election decree for royal endorsement a few days after August 15 to ensure that a new election is held on October 15, he said yesterday.

Thaksin also used his weekly radio show to call for national reconciliation from all parties involved in the ongoing political crisis.

He warned that foreign investors were losing "trust and confidence" and withholding investment because of the uncertain political situation.

Reconciliation was needed for the sake of His Majesty the King and the economy, the embattled premier said in the nationwide broadcast.

"I would like to tell fellow politicians in the opposition camp or those of the People's Alliance for Democracy, as well as the media, that it's time to reconcile by sticking to a democratic framework with the King as the head of the state and move forward, otherwise the country will be in trouble," he said.

"If the country is in trouble, this time it will be for a long time," he warned.

Thaksin said he would seek royal endorsement for the new election a few days after August 15 so the date could be set for October 15 as the government planned.

His appeal for reconciliation

was delivered one day after Privy Council president General Prem Tinsulanonda called on the military to rally behind the monarchy and the country.

Prem's remark was seen as a response to a June 29 statement

by Thaksin that said a "charismatic figure" was using unconstitutional means to overthrow the government.

Thaksin's call for national reconciliation was dismissed as a "bad political joke" by Suriyasai Katasila, spokesman for the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD).

He said that while PAD had never refused reconciliation as an option, it was now "too late" to talk with the present regime because

Thaksin is the root of the crisis, Suriyasai said. He suggested that Thaksin resign and retire from

politics to restore the spirit of re-conciliation.

Meanwhile, Thaksin said he had not yet decided about the upcoming military reshuffle and denounced the media for reporting that he would be sidelining generals who did not show allegiance to him.

The premier said that newspapers contained so much distortion lately that he no longer read them. "It makes me feel tired," he said.