Yesterday's meeting of the National Security Council (NSC), chaired by the prime minister, did not recommend lifting of the emergency decree still in effect in Bangkok and 15 other provinces.
However, NSC secretary general Thawil Pliensri said the Centre for Resolution of the Emergency Situation would convene today to discuss the matter.
The CRES would determine and suggest to Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva whether the emergency should be lifted in more provinces.
In addition to Abhisit, yesterday's NSC meeting was attended by Deputy Prime Minister Suthep Thaugsuban, who is in charge of security affairs, Defence Minister Prawit Wongsuwan, and Army commander-in-chief General Anupong Paochinda.
In early April, the government imposed the state of emergency in Bangkok and some surrounding provinces after red-shirt protesters stormed the Parliament compound. As the political situation became more violent, the emergency state was imposed in other provinces, eventually numbering 24.
The state of emergency has now been lifted in eight provinces where the situation is viewed as under control. Further cancellation in other provinces was expected until the deadly bomb blast last Sunday in the Rajdamri shopping area, site of the red-shirt protests.
Earlier yesterday, Abhisit told Cabinet members he was authorised to lift the state of emergency without first consulting Cabinet, a Government House source said, and he might do so in more provinces without Cabinet endorsement.
He was quoted as saying any decision would be based on opinions of the relevant security agencies - the NSC and the CRES.
The Cabinet did not have its customary Tuesday meeting this week because of the holiday.
Suthep, who heads the CRES, said yesterday that the committee did not recommend lifting the emergency in more provinces, but the prime minister was entitled to raise the matter in Cabinet.
In response to a suggestion that violent incidents often took place before a possible lifting of the state of emergency, Suthep said he believed the violence was the work of people who wanted to discredit the government.
"They aim at damaging the government's credibility. They want to make it appear the government is unable to control the situation," he said.