Abstract:
The purpose of this research was to study the factors which influence the decision-making of female candidates running in the SAO council's election, and the communication strategies used by female candidates during the SAO's election. A qualitative research, with study phenomenology approach, was implemented by in-depth interviewing with 30 female members of the SAO council. The results are as follows: 1. Three main factors which influence the decision-making of female candidates for running in the SAO's election are (1) personal support (2) a personal-need and (3) social pressure. 2. The communication used by female candidates during the election campaign are both interpersonal communication and provisional media. The interpersonal communication include knocking the door, targeting the major groups in the electoral areas, making speeches, and finding potential opportunity. The provisional media used are placards, leaflets, postcards, the mobile cars and community media such as news broadcast. However, the female candidates prefer to use the interpersonal channel as a major medium and choose other kinds of media as a supplement. 3. The communication strategies employed by the female candidates include (1) the choice of media; (2) the presentation of the media. 4. The purposes of using media in the election campaign are (1) to announce their candidacy; (2) to introduce themselves; (3) to show their abilities and (4) to make the public awareness of their name and number. 5. The message campaign strategies used by the female candidates during the election period include. (1) stressing on the name and number of a candidate (2) calling for a change (3) not committing oneself (4) emphasizing optimism for the future (5) asking for a sympathy and (6) showing previous works. 6. The factors which contribute to the choice of media by female candidates include (1) the media coverage (2) the support from a network (3) the influence from previous users (4) the knowledge obtained from a training on political campaign strategies.