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The results of the research showed that people in Chiang Mai, whether living in Muang

District and its peripheries, or the outer districts and remote areas, were strongly interested and
active during the March 24, 2019 election because it was the first election organized after the

2014 coup d’état, coupled with the growth of social media and digital television that enabled
people to have access to political information easily and promptly. However, there appeared

to be differences in the outskirts of Muang district, especially in remote areas on the highlands
and ethnic communities, specifically that people in those areas still did not understand the

conditions and details of the mixed member apportionment electoral system (MMA). Therefore,
in the areas where political understanding was not fully present, the manipulation of political

information tended to occur. Election news is delivered or spread by the campaigners, political
party representatives, or candidates in the areas, rather than by the Election Commission or

government agencies. The study indicates that people were not fully aware of the change
from multiple ballots to the single ballot. And in the voting, people are unable to voice their

real needs because the new election system tries to combine three elements: selection of
the prime minister, political parties for party list seat allocation, and MPs in the constituencies,

into a single ballot. That results in a very difficult decision to make. Yet, the result of the study
shows that the people in Chiang Mai made their voting decisions mainly on the basis of political

party. Despite the large number of political parties in this election, the dominant political parties
were the Pheu Thai Party, Palang Pracharath Party, and the Future Forward Party, while other

political parties were not very popular. And yet, the new election system dictates that every
vote has to be counted and hence every political party put effort into campaigning in order

to get votes in the party list system, even though they did not expect to actually win any
constituency race in Chiang Mai.

Regarding the selection of political party candidates in Chiang Mai Province, the direction

or guidelines used do not differ greatly between most political parties, Though an exception can
be seen in the case of Future Forward Party, which adopted a different method for obtaining

its candidates. Generally, in Chiang Mai, candidates were selected in three ways: 1. chosen
from among former MPs or former national level politicians; 2. chosen from among people

who previously held political positions at the local level or former civil servants, members
of local political networks, and people with prominent socioeconomic status in Chiang Mai;

and 3. people who are interested to work or represent political parties and were proposed
and approved by the parties. Interestingly, people do not pay much attention to the roster