BANGKOK - A Thai general election planned for early 2016 will now take place in August 2016 at the earliest, a deputy prime minister said on Tuesday, following a decision by Thailand's cabinet to hold a referendum on the country's new constitution.

"If we have to do a referendum in January, after that we will need three to four months to amend various laws ... then no more than 90 days after that we will hold an election," deputy prime minister Wissanu Krea-ngam.

"At the earliest it will take place around August or in September."

The Thai cabinet agreed earlier on Tuesday that a referendum should be held on the constitution and the military's blueprint for restoring democracy.

Thailand's military government came to power in a coup last May.