The People and Election: A Case Study of Voters’ Behaviour in Chon Buri Province related to Thailand’s 2019 Election for House of Representatives

Abstract

The House of Representatives election in 2019 was the first nationwide election after a momentous change occurred across Thailand’s political landscape, i.e. the end of Bhumibol consensus. The new constitution and election system had different context from previous general elections. This research paper examines how the people of the Kingdom, who are an important political actor, participate in politics under the recent context and the implications of their participation on Thai politics. Data were collected from voters in Chon Buri Province with a sample size of 1,113 responses. The study revealed major findings: First, all voters acknowledge and have access to political information. Second, education, occupation, average income, and family average income correlated with people’s behaviour in political and party participation. Third, most respondents who voted for the Palanpracharath Party comprised those with limited participation in political activities. Further, they possessed lower education background, unstable work, and lower income, giving precedence on welfare, while most respondents who voted for the Future Forward Party included those with active participation in political activities, higher education background, secure jobs, and higher income, giving precedence to transparency and justice. The findings showed that most voters could access political information, and their votes matched their class interests, signifying that voters’ behaviour to elect a political party or politician correlates more with their class interests than their “political knowledge”. The potential and capacity to participate in politics depend on security, wealth, and time accumulation ability, thus enabling complex, laborious, and costly political participation, especially in an election with an arc predicament to forbid the lower classes from political participation.