It’s not usual that the Commissioner for Children is so direct in her answers. Usually, she tries to avoid being in contrast with anything concerning the government. After all, she gets her position and salary from the government.

So what she said in reply to a question by independent candidate Arnold Cassola carries some significance.

“I don’t feel comfortable with them,” she said, in reference to politicians using children as part of their political campaigning.

Cassola was referring to Labour MP Rosianne Cutajar’s stunt of giving sweets to young children as part of a Halloween stunt. The candy was in bags which were closed with a sticker bearing her name. Needless to say, Cutajar was visiting schools within the electoral district in which she contests. It’s not worth the trouble to visit places and hand out gifts in localities where residents cannot vote for you.

Cutajar is not new to such behaviour. Earlier this year she was criticised for distributing oranges to elderly people, again in the locality where she is part of the ballot sheet. But she’s too arrogant to admit making a mistake. Instead, she repeats it, this time with children.

Cutajar was not the only candidate to do use children over the Halloween weekend in what seemed to be a blatant attempt to earn votes. Even Economy Minister Silvio Schembri, according to what he wrote on Facebook, used his own children to go knocking on doors to distribute sweets to other kids in a locality where he is contesting.

The use of children in political stunts is a matter of concern.

“This is why,” Commissioner Pauline Miceli said in her answer, “a few years ago we held an exercise with all stakeholders and anyone interested in drawing up guidelines with the Standards Authority on the ‘use’ of children in political propaganda and the media.”

The problem is, however, that although political parties agreed with the guidelines, they have no “legal strength”.

In other words, political parties believe that children should not be part of politics, less so used as a political tool by candidates. And yet, given what Cutajar and Schembri did over the weekend, some candidates still use children as part of their campaigning.

What Cutajar, Schembri and others did and will continue to do may be legal, but it is certainly inappropriate. Trying to win sympathy, and votes, by distributing sweets to children (and oranges to elderly people) is appalling, and exposes the low level some politicians stoop to in order to get a seat in Parliament.

No doubt, such stunts will be used more and more as the election approaches. We’ve seen it many times in the past. While Miceli made it clear that guidelines on the use of children have no legal strength, there are other laws in place that regulate what candidates can do during campaigns, in particular with regard to how much they can spend.

But these rules are never enforced.

It is high time that they are, and that the guidelines Miceli is referring to also become enforceable.