การไปใช้สิทธิเลือกตั้งนายกเทศมนตรีและสมาชิกสภาเทศบาลนครเชียงใหม่ 28 มีนาคม 2564: ปัจจัยการตัดสินใจไปใช้สิทธิและเลือกตั้งผู้สมัครจากตระกูลการเมืองเดิม

Abstract

This independent study aimed to 1) study the opinions of people who did not exercise their voting rights for Municipal Council Members and the Mayor of Chiang Mai on 28 March 2021 and 2) investigate the opinions of people who chose the old political family (Buranupakorn) in the election of 28 March 2021 through the qualitative research methodology by the in-depth interviews with five groups of informants: 1) people who exercised and did not exercise their voting rights; 2) community chairpersons in Chiang Mai Municipality Area; 3) candidates for Mayor; 4) personnel from Office of the Election Commission, Chiang Mai; and 5) relevant academicians. The study found that the reasons for some people who did not vote for Municipal Council Members and the Mayor of Chiang Mai on 28 March 2021 were divided into three groups: 1) the group with no interest in both national and local elections; 2) the group with their interest in only the national election, except the local election as they viewed that it did not affect them; 3) the group who did not exercise their voting rights due to personal reasons. These reasons included the followings: 1) the domicile by birth outside the municipal area; 2) personal business; 3) no candidate from their own community or adjacent community; and 4) the situation of Coronavirus 2019 outbreaks. The reasons why people in Chiang Mai Municipality Area still chose the Mayor of Chiang Mai from the old political family (Buranupakorn) were separated into three reasons:1) personal qualifications and their domicile by birth in Chiang Mai; 2) personal preference for the old political party and family; and 3) previous records of concrete works carried out by the old political family. In addition, the study revealed that even though the old political family influenced a decision to vote for the Mayor of Chiang Mai and Municipal Council Members from the same group, there were still other crucial factors in the local election, namely vote canvassers, political strongholds, and networks of the local patronage system.