Democratic party MEP candidate Camilla Appelgren shut down her Facebook page after receiving death threats, PD deputy leader Timothy Alden has claimed.

Just a few days before the European Parliament elections, Ms Appelgren shut down her social media page in the wake of controversy around an abortion pledge her party had signed.

"She has shown me some of the many messages she received - which are outright graphic death threats," Mr Alden said. 

The messages Ms Appelgren received were not made public, but he wrote that she was told to "watch out, threatening her family and saying she should never feel safe".

Ms Appelgren refused to share what the threats said. 

"At this point of time I will not disclose what the threats contained, this for the safety of my family," she told the Times of Malta. "I can assure you that taking down my social media page and profile is not something I would do if I didn’t feel the urgent need for it," she said.

Ms Appelgren said she would be taking the appropriate action once she felt it was safe to. 

The PD MEP candidate would be filing a police report "once her children are safe", the deputy leader added. 

There was an online frenzy after Ms Appelgren wrote she was not in favour of a "blanket ban" on abortion. 

Her comments came after Times of Malta reported PD signed a pledge to bring forward amendments to entrench Malta's abortion ban into the Constitution. 

The move exposed internal rifts within the party, as the officials took to social media to express their different positions on abortion. 

PD leader Godfrey Farrugia had later said he had signed the pledge "conditionally", in order to engage with all sectors of society. 

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