Abstract:
Objectives of this thesis were: 1. To study the level of political participation of citizens in the election of local executives of Huai Or Sub-District Municipality, Long District, Phrae Province 2. To study the relationship between Aparihaniyadhamma principles and the political participation of the people in the election of local executives of Huai Or Sub-District Municipality, Long District, Phrae Province and 3. To study the problems, obstacles, and suggestions of people's political participation in the election of local executives of Huai Or Sub-District Municipality. Long District, Phrae Province, conducted by the mixed research methods. The quantitative research, using questionnaires as a tool to collect data. The sample included people who voted for the local executives of Huai Or Municipality, Long District, Phrae Province, using sampling methods from Taro Yamane's formula, obtaining a sample of 365 people out of a total of 4,133 people, analyzing the data with frequency, percentage, average, standard deviation, and Pearsons Correlation Coefficients. The qualitative Research, data were collected from 9 key informants by in-depth-interview, analyzed data by content descriptive interpretation and presented in form of essay and a table of distributions of the frequencies of key contributors, to support quantitative data.
Findings were as follows:
1. The level of political participation of citizens in the election of local executives of Huai Or Sub-District Municipality. Long District, Phrae Province by overall was at moderate level (x̅=3.06, S.D.=0.82). Considering on aspect-by-aspect basis, in descending order of averages. It was found that the highest average aspect was the electoral aspect (x̅=3.69, S.D.=0.73), followed by the political discussion aspect (x̅=2.88, S.D.=0.72) and the least average aspect was the establishment and membership of different groups (x̅ =2.65, S.D.=0.72), respectively.
2. The relationship between the Apparihaniyadhamma principles and the political participation of the people in the election of local executives of Huai Or Sub-District Municipality. Long District, Phrae Province, as a whole, had a relatively high level of positive Correlation. (r=.788**) with statistically significant level at 0.01, thus accepting the hypothesis.
3. Problems and obstacles relating to the political participation of citizens in the election of local executives of Huai Or Sub-District Municipality. Long District, Phrae Province were found that the public did not realize the importance of political participation. It did not give priority to voting rights, as going to work abroad makes it inconvenient to come back to the homeland. There was no enthusiasm for engaging in dialogue, exchange, learning and participating in political activities, as well as having no access to political technology thoroughly. Suggestions: People of all ages should be encouraged to participate in politics both before, during and after elections. Build understanding of democratically correct rights, freedoms, and political participation. It should provide a place to discuss and exchange ideas about politics. Political officials should be aware of their roles and duties. Emphasis should be placed on public relations and increase channels of communication with the public to be comprehensive and thorough.