Updated 8.35pm 

Workers are hard at work installing political billboards at key junctions across Malta, barely a couple of hours into the 2017 snap electoral campaign. 

Times of Malta photographer Jonathan Borg caught sight of workers in Lija putting up billboards at around 8pm, with their truck's load of 10 billboards suggesting workers have a long night ahead of them. 

The Prime Minister's chief of staff Keith Schembri used a photo of a billboard being lifted into place to hint at an early election this afternoon, posting the photo on Facebook along with the caption "campaign billboards on their way." 

Prime Minister Joseph Muscat subsequently confirmed rumours of an early election, telling PL faithful gathered at a Workers' Day rally in Valletta that the country would go to the polls on June 3 - a full nine months before the end of his legislature. 

The snap election comes in the wake of serious corruption allegations which have dogged his government.  

Photo: Facebook/Keith SchembriPhoto: Facebook/Keith Schembri

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