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or those Indonesians uninterested in politics, logging in to Facebook or Twitter is a frustrating experience these days.

'€œI'€™ve limited my newsfeed to close friends,'€ Ira Hairida, a blogger from Palembang, South Sumatra, wrote on her Facebook wall. She said she was tired of people posting political statuses and verbally attacking the presidential contenders.

The country is experiencing its most polarizing presidential election ever, with Indonesians, mainly those with Internet access, sharply divided between the soft-spoken entrepreneur Joko '€œJokowi Widodo, and the strong-willed former general Prabowo Subianto.

Ira said the zealous campaigning of both camps had overstepped the mark. '€œ[Their attitude is] you'€™re either with us or against us.'€

The Internet has undeniably become the main battlefield for politicians in their quest to seek public support.

With only a few weeks until the election on July 9, hard-core supporters of both contenders are spending more time online either promoting or refuting scathing information about their candidates on the Internet.

Politicawave, a site monitoring political conversation on social media '€” Twitter, Facebook, blogs, online forums, online news and YouTube '€” said the Internet was a hotbed for vibrant debate on the election due to the nature of the Internet.

'€œOn social media, a tweet can be shared [easily and quickly]. So it'€™s easier and faster to spread,'€ Politicawave director Yose Rizal told The Jakarta Post over the weekend. That was why the Internet was also the perfect place to spread rumors and lies, he added.

Yose cited the recent rumor circulating on social media outlets, which said Jokowi was a Christian of Chinese descent. '€œIt prompted many people to look for information on Jokowi'€™s religion via Google,'€ Yose said.

Jokowi has refuted such claims, saying he has always been a Muslim, but those versed in the dark arts of the smear campaign upped their game by publishing what appeared to be a marriage certificate and an obituary advertisement purportedly showing Jokowi'€™s real name as Herbertus Handoko Joko Widodo or Oey Hong Liong.

'€œThis is clearly a form of negative campaigning,'€ Yose said.

Jokowi has also been faced with the claim that he had been summoned by the Attorney General'€™s Office (AGO) in connection with a corruption case that occurred under his administration.

The AGO denied the claim, saying it had no intention to summon the presidential candidate from the Indonesian Democratic Party of Struggle (PDI-P)-led coalition.

Politicawave said Jokowi was the biggest target of smear campaigns. According to its data, the number of negative conversations relating to Jokowi reached 67 percent, out of the total discussions on the two presidential candidates, compared to 33 percent for his rival, Prabowo.

However, the number of positive conversations on Jokowi trounced Prabowo with 72 percent over 28 percent. Jokowi is more discussed on social media than Prabowo with 60 percent over 40 percent.

'€œJokowi is getting a lot of support online, but he is also being attacked heavily [via smear campaigns],'€ Yose said.

Supporters of Prabowo have been trying their best to clear their candidate of human rights abuse allegations.

Prabowo, the presidential candidate from the Gerindra Party-led coalition, was accused of masterminding the kidnapping of pro-democracy activists during Soeharto'€™s downfall in 1998, an allegation that has been used by Jokowi supporters to attack the former general'€™s credibility.

Randy Remigius, a 26-year-old bank employee who supports Jokowi, said the amount of negative campaigns on social media was too much.

'€œThe competition is already unhealthy,'€ he said.

He said he now usually only paid attention to posts promoting Jokowi and ignored most of those supporting Prabowo.

Tamarind Puri Khiranti Indra, an Indonesian living in Australia, said she usually skipped articles she deemed biased or to be attacks on a particular candidate without being backed up by the proper facts.