Thailand's military chiefs have recommended that martial law imposed after the 19 September coup be lifted in parts of the country.
Martial law will remain in some parts of the country
The decision would affect about 40 of Thailand's 76 provinces, coup leader and army commander General Sonthi Boonyaratglin said.
Martial law has been in place since the bloodless coup, which ousted Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra.
The decision will now be submitted to the cabinet for approval.
"Everybody wants to see peace and order in our country and the lifting of martial law will have a positive political and psychological impact," Gen Sonthi said.
But he said the measures will remain in place in the troubled southern provinces, and in areas of the north and northeast, where support for Mr Thaksin is strongest.
Gen Sonthi said Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont could decided what to do about Bangkok.
"If we lift martial law and something happens, the prime minister will be held primarily responsible," the French news agency AFP quoted him as saying.
The new government has struggled to gain international recognition, not least because of its refusal to end the martial law, says the BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok.
But in practice few Thais have felt the restrictions, which have been applied sparingly.
Soldiers are still posted outside television stations in Bangkok, around 300 radio stations in rural areas have been forced to stop broadcasting, and political parties have been banned from holding large-scale meetings.
There have been relatively few protests against martial law - in fact the more widely-heard complaint against the new government is over its failure to come up with a convincing case against the former prime minister for corruption or abuses of power.
Still, the fact that martial law will remain in place in pro-Thaksin areas suggests the military is still nervous about a possible come-back by the former prime minister, who has been touring a number of nearby countries recently in a blaze of media publicity, our correspondent adds.