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12 การศึกษาความเคลื่อนไหวทางการเมืองและพฤติกรรมการเลือกตั้งสมาชิกสภาผู้แทนราษฎร 2562 จังหวัดขอนแก่น

It was found that even though the political network of Thaksin Shinawatra was able to

repeatedly sweep the seats in all electoral districts in Khon Kaen in every other election since 2005,
in the 2019 election Pheu Thai Party won in the Districts 3-10 but surprisingly lost in District 1

and 2. District 1 was won by Future Forward Party for at least three reasons: first, Future Forward
Party had an outstanding leader Thanathorn jungroongruangkit, and the party’s political ideology

was very similar to that of Pheu Thai Party; second, the high political awareness of Khon Kaen
University students; and third, the declining political influence of the Pattanadamrongjit family and the

carelessness of Chakarin Pattanadamrongjit. Parties that vowed in their campaign to not support
General Prayut Chan-o-cha receive a total of 75,746 votes in District 1. In contrast, parties

that sided with Prayut received on 22,632 votes. The victory of Palang Pracharat Party in
District 2 can be explained by at least six factors: first, the district is geographically fragmented;

second, the local administration is under the control of Wattana Changlao and its opportunism
after the 2014 coup; third, the popularity of Wattana stems from his position as chairman of

the Khon Kaen United Football Club; fourth, Wattana’s personal characteristics and intentions;
fifth, problems within the Pheu Thai Party; sixth, ideological similarity between Pheu Thai Party

and the Future Forward Party enabled Wattana to prevail. When looking at the election results,
Pheu Thai (34,115) and Future Forward (21,449) received total number of 55,564 votes which is

higher than the 46,276 votes that Wattana won.

Among the 1,037,292 voters Khon Kaen’s ten electoral districts, 380,001 cast their
ballots for Pheu Thai Party which represents 36.63 percent of the electorate. This was followed

by Palang Pracharat Party with 222,075 votes or 21,4 percent, and Future Forward Party with
185,895 votes or 17.92 percent. The remaining votes went to other parties or were spoilt ballots.

Four conclusions can be drawn from this electoral outcome. First, a large number
of voters still support Pheu Thai Party based on its achievements in the past when the party

was known as Thai Rak Thai Party. Despite the fact that earlier incarnations of the party

were dissolved, voters still stand with parties supported by Thaksin Shinawatra. None of the
former candidates of these parties who changed their allegiance in this election won any seats.
Second, the strategy of Palang Pracharat Party to poach local politicians to run on a party ticket

in the belief that personal local connections would bring a sweeping victory proved unsuccessful.

Third, the manifold economic problems that followed the 2014 coup were left unaddressed by
the NCPO government, and structural poverty and inequality caused a large number of voters