Factors Affected to People’s Participation in Election of Municipality Member, PranakornSriayutthaya Municipality, Pranakornsriayuttha District, Pranakornsriayuttha Province in Election District 1

Abstract

          This research aimed to study factors affecting people’s participation in the election of Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Municipality Council members. The objectives were to study the levels of people’s participation in voting for Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Municipality Council members. It was the study of factors which were related to people’s participation in the election of Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Municipality Council members. The study also suggests ways to encourage people to go out and vote for Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Municipality Council members.The population included 9,847 people who were entitled to vote in the Electoral District 1 and a sample group for quantitative study of 384 people.  Descriptive Analytical Statistics was used to describe general characteristics of the data which included Frequency and Percentage.  The Inference Statistics was employed to test Nonparametric hypothesis.  This is due to the fact that the measurement of variants was Ordinal Scale.  The data was not a normal distribution, therefore, the statistics was used to test the hypotheses. 

          From the study, it was concluded that the age of the voters in Electoral District 1 of Phranakhon Si Ayutthaya Municipality showing up to vote the most was between 41 and 51. They lived and worked in the area, they went to vote more than those who lived outside the area. Concerning the level of education, it was found that people who had education lower than primary to secondary levels went out to vote in the highest level.   It was because they still believed in the community leader and their relatives’ persuasion. The decision, then, was not from their own judgment. Pertaining to the people who had higher education, they were bored with the election that was fullof politicians who usually corrupted and only worked for their own benefits, therefore, they did not go out to vote.  Regarding the information awareness, people who followed news from media went out to vote more.  The information awareness was not limited to only formal communication channels, it also included chatting and talking with groups of friends. In other words, receiving more news, including from different types of media encouraged people to vote.  Proof of hypotheses consists of 1) Hypothesis 1: Older voters tend to vote more than those who are younger; 2) Hypothesis 2: Voters with less income tend to go out and vote more than those with more income; 3) Voters with lower level of education tend to go out and vote more than those who have higher level of education; 4) Voters who receive more election news tend to participate in the election more than those who receive less news.  The result of proving the hypotheses revealed that the hypotheses showed relationships with thepeople’s participation in the election.  Therefore, the 4 hypotheses were accepted.