The By-Election of 7th Electoral District, Khon Kaen Province and the Victory of Palan Pracharath Party

Abstract

Since the transformation from the former “Thai Rak Thai Party” to “Pheu Thai Party”, this party had been granting by majority of the suffrages in the area of Khon Kean Province including the seventh electoral district of Mancha Khiri District and Nong Rua District where most of the constituencies had also voted for the candidates of this Party. However, as the result of the Constitutional Court’s judgment for the capital punishment of Nawat Torcharoensuk, who was the former representative of the aforementioned district, the by-election had been held on December 22, 2019. The election returns were the victory of Mr. Somsak Khun-gnern from Palang Pracharath Party over Thanik Maseephitak from Pheu Thai Party 40,252 to 38,010. Therefore, under the aim on the studying of the factors of the mentioned victory, this article had been created in accordance to the application of the method of documentary research, in-depth interview with each mainstay of the Pheu Thai Party and Palang Pracharath Party, three Nong Rua District citizens, three Mancha Khiri District citizens, and five We Watch volunteers. The result of this study revealed six key factors as follows: 1) problems in the by-election system in Thailand, 2) unity in the selection of the candidates within the Pheu Thai Party, 3) the outstanding qualification of Mr. Somsak Khun-gnern, 4) lack of unity of the opposition parties, 5) the nature of the election campaign for the by-election of the coalition government parties, and 6) some unclean behaviors in election. All of the aforementioned factors had been considered as reasons for the victory of Palang Pracharath Party in the seventh electoral district of Khon Kaen Province.