State Statistical Office head Apostol Simovski said on Thursday that the upcoming headcount can be postponed only if the Commission for Infectious Diseases decides that it’s not safe for it to be administered.
“The only body that has the authority to propose delaying the census is the Commission for Infectious Diseases. If the Commission decides that the situation is out of control, it has to submit a recommendation to the government to postpone the headcount,” Simovski told Kanal 5 TV.
He added that procedure dictates that only the Commission for Infectious Diseases has the authority to propose pushing back the census and the State Statistical Office has no say in the matter.
“A potential Commission recommendation would first be sent to the Crisis HQ and then to the government. Postponing the process would require changing the law, which is a lengthy process,” Simovski noted.
He stressed that the SSO is monitoring the situation and if the Commission issues such a recommendation, it will respect its decision. SSO, however, doesn’t have the authority to ask for headcount to be pushed back.
Recently, in a post published on the official Facebook page for the 2021 census in North Macedonia, stakeholders denied misinformation that households will be visited by 3-4 census takers.
“We ask people not to believe provocations stemming from lack of understanding of the methodology for conducting #Попис2021 (#Census2021). Households will be visited by a single census taker,” read the post.
Moreover, the post stressed that health protection measures, which can be reviewed at the following link: http://popis2021.stat.gov.mk/
By 8:30 am on Thursday, 47,794 citizens living abroad have filled out online surveys via the census app.
