The Domination of the Democratic Party in the Northeast: A Case Study of MP Wutthipong Nambut, Ubon Ratchathani Province

Abstract

Winning or losing elections are common in politics. However, a politician who can win elections many times in a region or a province where his political party favorability is in decline is very interesting to study in politics. Although his constituency is located in Ubon Ratchathani province and the Isaan region, all of which are the Pheu Thai Party's strongholds, Wuttipong Nambutr, Democrat, Ubon Ratchathani 2, won the election for 5 consecutive terms from 2007 to 2023. This study aims to study Wutthipong Nambut's use of political discourses or political ideology in building confidence in local people in his electoral area, the factors making his political discourses or political ideology successful and the impact on the thoughts and ideology of local people in his constituency. The results of the study revealed that Wutthipong created and reproduced his discourses through himself, members of the Democrat Party and the local people who believe in him. The discourses mostly found in the area were “Wutthipong, a Down-to-Earth Representative”, “a Developer Representative” and a member of the Nambut family, which is an old family that has been beneficial to the people in the area for a long time. Moreover, he often went to the area to help people in the constituency. He was able to draw on resources, especially the budget, to develop the area a lot. Both of the factors contributed to the success of the use of the discourses, which resulted in the people in the area having confidence in him as their representative. Consequently, they valued an individual more than ideology or political parties.