National Statistics Office has postponed the release of key government finance and unemployment statistics until after Malta’s general election.The Government Finance January-April figures and registered unemployment data had originally been scheduled for publication on Friday 29th May, Malta’s official “reflection day”, when political campaigning is banned ahead of voting day.However, both releases have now been pushed to early June.NSO Director General Etienne Caruana told MaltaToday that the decision was taken as a matter of “prudential judgement” and in line with what he described as the “spirit” of Malta’s electoral laws.According to Caruana, it would have been inappropriate to publish official statistics at a time when policymakers would not be able to respond properly because of election silence rules.The decision appears to be highly unusual, with the NSO still set to publish GDP figures as planned on Thursday 28th May.The General Elections Act prohibits political communication intended to influence voters on reflection day and election day itself, though the law does not specifically mention official statistics.Should official statistics still be published during reflection day?•