Abstract:
The objectives of this research were: 1) to study the level of motivation for exercising the voting right for members of the Provincial Administrative Organization Council of the people in Mueang Loei District, Loei Province; 2) to compare the level of motivation for exercising the right to vote for members of the Provincial Administrative Organization Council of the people in Mueang Loei District; 3) to study the recommendations for promoting the election of members of the Provincial Administrative Organization Council of the people in Mueang Loei District. This study was carried out by means of mixed-method research. The samples included 398 participants and 12 key informants. The tools used in collecting the data were a questionnaire and an interview form. The obtained data were analyzed by the social sciences program and contextual content analysis.
The research results were as follows:
1) The motivation for exercising the voting right for the Provincial Administrative Organization Council members of the people in the Mueang Loei District was statistically rated at a high level. The aspect with the highest mean was the policy of the candidates, followed by the performance following the Four Iddhipāda Dhammas of the candidates, political relationships of candidates, and personality of the candidates. The lowest mean aspect was the public relations of the candidates.
2) The comparative results of the levels of motivation for exercising the right to vote for members of the Provincial Administrative Organization Council of the people in Mueang Loei District found that people with different gender, ages, education levels, occupation, and monthly income had the different overall incentives for exercising the right to vote at the statistical significance level of 0.05.
3) Recommendations: The Election Commission should encourage people to know the rules and regulations of the elections. They should create awareness and cultivate democracy at the household level, incentivize people to participate in electoral activities, and improve the method of distributing information for broader publicity.