Police have been asked to investigate Rosianne Cutajar for distributing oranges to the residents of a care home in an alleged breach of the General Election Act. 

On Wednesday the MP handed out the fruit to residents of Dar Pinto, an elderly home in Qormi, part of her constituency and where she was formerly mayor. 

The General Election Act bans the provision of food, drinks or preferential treatment to a person in order to influence a vote.

Civil society activists Repubblika say the incident breaks the law relating to 'treating'. 

Cutajar contests elections on the sixth district, comprised of Qormi, Siġġiewi and Luqa, making the Dar Pinto residents her constituents.

In a statement Repubblika said that they expected authorities to actively enforce the law and investigate and act against electoral corruption.

“Politicians and state institutions cannot decide for themselves which parts of the law apply, and which do not," they said.

"We are not just talking about Rosianne Cutajar handing out oranges but about people who do not care about the law and deliberately decide to break it without a sense of shame, with the moral aggravation that it is being done, in this case, to irregularly influence the elderly living in an institution."

What the General Election Act says about treating.

In response to the statement, Cutajar said that Repubblika’s stance was “character assassination” over a harmless gesture.

“This behaviour is part of a systematic campaign of character assassination against me,” she said on Facebook.

“Repubblika’s argument that a person can be bought with an orange is an insult to people’s intelligence,” Cutajar said, adding that the gesture had been appreciated by the residents. 

Previously serving as the junior minister for equality and social reform, Cutajar resigned from her role pending the outcome of an investigation into her ethical conduct with Yorgen Fenech, which included the brokerage of a property deal.