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candidate from the Pheu Thai Party. This made the local political atmosphere in Chiang Mai not
just about the battles among political groups in the locality but also the involvement of national

politics.

This study also finds that the network of election canvassers is essential and determines
the competitive edge for electoral victory. The Pheu Thai candidates for the Chiang Mai PAO seats
could rely on their electoral base and the canvasser networks of the Party’s Members of the
House of Representatives who had won the 2019 general election in all the 9 voting districts,

despite the re-election for District 8 afterward. The Chiang Mai PAO election provided the Pheu
Thai Party with the advantage that was a by-product of the election just one year earlier, despite
some areas with ambiguous support for Pheu Thai, for instance, the Mueang District area that the
Pheu Thai House Member was a niece of Mr. Boonlert Buranupakorn from the Chiang Mai

Khunnatham Group. In spite of the presence of canvassing and vote buying during the Chiang Mai
PAO election, the effects of the money factor on voting decisions have changed from the past.
This can be seen from the altered meaning of money from cash for votes to “gratuity” which

began to exist during the 2019 general election as well. The interview data posits that those who
used to receive the money do not associate the act of taking the cash with a legal offense since
they believe that accepting the money without voting for the giver is one of the solutions to give
the latter a lesson of electoral defeat despite vote buying. Such political behavior that occurred
among the qualified voters could be linked to the rapidly changing political context during the

past several years. Therefore, the research studies for understanding the political and voting
behaviors are so necessary that they must be continuously conducted.

The survey data on public opinion and the factors affecting the ballot casting during the
Chiang Mai PAO election suggest that the majority of the people gave precedence to political
parties and their platforms which focused on solving local issues in Chiang Mai. The findings also

show a crucial difference between this election and the national election. As the voters
considered whom to vote for, they looked for these main qualifications of the candidates for the
Chiang Mai PAO Chief Executive and Councilor positions: prior work experiences in politics and

that the candidates must be locals or have domicile in the voting district. With such qualifications,
they would understand the local problems, and their prior acquaintance with the local people
would be conducive to being the representatives working in the LAO. Meanwhile, the university
student group believes that the education level of the candidates matters because, in order to

solve the local issues which are diverse according to different local context, the people need the
persons with knowledge and expertise on local development because the LAO is a governmental
unit which is instrumental to enhancing people’s quality of life and economic well-being.

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