Thousands of supporters of Indonesia's incumbent presidential candidate Joko Widodo and his challenger Prabowo Subianto were out in force yesterday at rival rallies as the campaign hotted up, with just nine days to go until the April 17 election.

Mr Prabowo's supporters turned up as early as 4am at Jakarta's Gelora Bung Karno stadium, the venue of last year's Asian Games, to hear him speak at a mega rally, which began with Muslim dawn prayers.

Over in Tangerang, Banten province, yesterday afternoon, there was a carnival air as Mr Joko rallied thousands of supporters in a colourful parade that featured multicultural performers of traditional Javanese reog ponorogo dance, Chinese lion dance and Indonesian traditional martial art pencak silat.

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