Plenty of mud thrown ahead of Indonesian election, and some of it’s sticking

While US President Barack Obama was accused of being a Kenyan-born Muslim before being elected, in Indonesia the front runner in its presidential election, Joko Widodo, has been branded an ethnic Chinese Christian.

Smear campaigns have escalated ahead of next Wednesday's election, a trend commentators say has contributed to a steep fall in support for Widodo.

In another attack, a senior official from the party of Prabowo Subianto, the only other contender, suggested on Twitter that Widodo was a communist, playing on fears that linger from the era of dictator Suharto.

While Widodo - known by his nickname Jokowi - has borne the brunt of the attacks, Prabowo has also been targeted. He has been labelled a psychopath, and a YouTube video of the infamously hot-headed ex-general punching someone at an election rally went viral, even though it appeared to have been doctored.

Most of these allegations have been denied or proven to be false. But in a social-media-mad country where rumours spread fast, they appear to be having an impact, commentators say.

"I'm very afraid that the outcome of the election is not going to be based on informed votes, because smear campaigns are having an impact on voters," Endy Bayuni, senior editor at the Englishlanguage daily The Jakarta Post, said at a panel discussion.