Role of Mass Media to Political Participation on the Mayoral Election of Kediri East Java, Indonesia

This study used a qualitative descriptive approach with the aim of knowing the penetration of communication media on the political behavior of voters, knowing the political advertising attractiveness of candidates in the mass media, identifying the candidate's capabilities in handling the political issues in the Kediri mayoral election, knowing the reason for voters to choose a certain candidate. The results showed that the communication media, especially electronic and print media have an important role in socialize the mayoral election, be a source of important information, the appearance of the candidate and his campaign program on TV, radio, newspapers, binner, leaflets, banners, billboards have an attraction for voters. Voters believe that the elected candidates have the capacity to cope with the various problems that exist in Kediri, especially the problem of unemployment, poverty, education, agriculture, economy and health. They choose the reason for the appearance of candidates and campaign programs in the mass media interest, other than that due to the public service in the last 5 (five) years is still not good in the hope of elected candidates can fix it.