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Executive Summary

The main task of this research is to understand the relationship between local
electoral politics and the power structure at both the local and national levels. The 2020
Provincial Administrative Organization (PAO) election in Samutprakarn Province, including the

nomination of the president and council members, was selected as the case study. The
research aims to understand how local politics and local electoral politics affect the
administration of Samutprakarn, an area that is adjacent to Bangkok, the capital city of
Thailand and the genuine Primate City. Furthermore, the research seeks to disclose the

connection between local electoral politics and the creation of “political economic
machines” in Samutprakarn, as well as how they consolidate political power and create
clientelist networks within the area.

The research findings are:

1) National and local level political atmospheres influenced Samutprakarn’s PAO
election. Most of the candidates registered themselves with local political groups
that are strong in terms of networks, leadership, resources, and voter mobilization.

The most powerful local political group is the Progressing Samutprakarn Group
(สมุทรปราการก้าวหน้า). This group has successfully created a political economic
machine that comprehensively unifies various networks of local canvassers in the
area, which led to the group’s electoral victory, including most of the group’s
candidates. National politics also had an informal influence on the election results

through non-disclosed assistance, such as kinship connections and familiarity between
local candidates and national politicians.

2) The campaign behavior of local candidates, and the response from voters,
demonstrated that traditional methods of campaigning are still popular; i.e.
billboards, leaflets, parades, meeting voters in-person, and employing canvassers.

Online campaigning, which was officially approved by the Election Commission for
the first time, did not prove popular among candidates or voters. In contrast,
however, there was an intensification of non-disclosure campaigning via the local
political economic machine. This machine unified various networks of local

canvassers, not to only distribute resources necessary for local election, but also to
act as a contractor in managing development projects and local budgets in an effort
to further influence the vote and win support from local residents. Unfortunately,
this led to low quality development and the formation of a new social contract. This

โครงการศึกษาการเลือกตั้งระดับท้องถิ่น ปี 2563: การเลือกตั้งสมาชิกสภาองค์การบริหารส่วนจังหวัดและนายกองค์การบริหารส่วนจังหวัดสมุทรปราการ จ