“If we are the least bit responsible, then we in the local government have no right to fear the obligations for the census, because that data is the basis for creating policies at the local level”, says Mayor of the City of Skopje, Petre Shilegov, at CIVIL’s panel discussion “How the census can be (mis)used?”.

He stresses that the data from the census is necessary for planning a good infrastructure, for sustainable transport, number of households, assessing where investments in infrastructure are needed… Shilegov explained that the local self-government will provide administrative support to the census, namely, it will be of assistance to the State Statistical Office.

“The sooner we finish it, the better. It’s no coincidence that this period has been chosen, it’s considered to be the most favourable period. It’s the standard around the world. Attempts for politicizing it, calls for some kind of boycotts are nothing but an attempt for destroying the processes that we as a state have to carry out”, considers Shilegov, who calls on citizens to respond to the census massively.

translation: N. Cvetkovska