Updated | After PN complaints, Police question Labour candidates for breaching electoral silence

Labour MEP Joseph Cuschieri as well as Labour candidates Deborah Schembri and Nikita Zammit Alamango have been called in for questioning at the CID headquarters in Floriana for breaching electoral silence through Facebook posts.

MaltaToday is informed that Lara Boffa, one of the speakers at the Labour Party's national conference that launched its manifesto earlier in January, is also being questioned.

In a later post on Twitter, Zammit Alamango tweeted "some people will try to push you down but I will stand strong..."

Some people will try to push you down but I will stand strong ... — NikitaZammitAlamango (@NikitaAlamango) March 9, 2013

At 5:45pm, MaltaToday was informed that Labour MPs Helena Dalli and Charles Mangion, as well as Labour candidate Chris Cilia were also brought in for questioning, on similar complaints.

The police action follows reports filed by the Nationalist Party, which in a statement said it expected the police to act in the same way it did with Malta Independent columnist Daphne Caruana Galizia on complaints the party had received of Labour candidates breaching the electoral silence.

"Although more than nine hours have passed since the police did not take any action, we expect that the police offers a public explanation of how it is treating these complaints," the PN said.

Police yesterday brought publicist Daphne Caruana Galizia, the Malta Independent columnist, in for questioning at the Mosta police station on the strength of a duty magistrate's order over complaints that she had breached electoral silence.

With the social media networks still buzzing, albeit at a lower level, with political talk on Friday's eve of Malta's election day, Caruana Galizia's personal blog on Friday was still busy with posts that she said "mocked" Opposition leader Joseph Muscat.

New complaints to the police from the Nationalist Party followed earlier today, reporting several Labour Party representatives or candidates who breached the General Elections Act's provisions on electoral silence, by posting messages on Twitter and Facebook.

Caruana Galizia, 48, reportedly refused to entertain a request from the Commissioner of Police on Friday evening to come in for questioning at the Mosta police station. She was later allowed to be driven down to the station by her husband, lawyer Peter Caruana Galizia, after a warrant for her arrest was issued.