“The census is defined and is called a statistical operation, unfortunately, in the Republic of North Macedonia it did not seem like that to some entities. We have been witnessing intense campaigns lately. While some of the civil society organizations and we as the government were trying to break the fog that the census will be politicized, some of the opposition parties, mostly VMRO-DPMNE, were trying to present it as a political agreement. I will immediately emphasize that there is no political agreement in the part of conducting the census “, said Slavjanka Petrovska, Member of Parliament and member of SDSM, at the panel discussion of CIVIL:” Census: Statistics, not politics “.
“I think the opposition should consider what kind of policy they are pursuing. The destructive processes that were their main policy, I think they should forget a little. I am happy with the meeting yesterday, not because of the postponement of the census, but because the leaders sat down and agreed that we should be constructive… A constructive debate means confronting the arguments, not our political views. When you have a topic like a census, you can not debate in a party-political connotation, you can only speak with facts and arguments,” said Petrovska.
She emphasized that from the position of a citizen, she is really sorry that the State Statistical Office was overshadowed, as an institution where professional and honest officials work.
“I think that the opposition has been too much in its trenches lately, in my opinion, fighting an unnecessary battle that did not lead to such a situation. We should use the upcoming period for a bigger debate between us, for a bigger perception of the situation and if everyone less than their strong positions would step back, I think we will reach the right solution and a compromise that is for the good of the citizens, who after all, are the ones who choose us,” Petrovska said in the context of the postponement of the census and the local elections and what lies ahead in the next period of the Assembly.
“Later, when we see the numbers not only for ethnicity, not only for those who are here or not, but when we see all the numbers that will emerge from the conduct of the census in its entirety, then much better and more constructive policies, ie decisions can be brought in various political and social spheres. Therefore, what we insisted on why the census is important is to update, update all databases, to do a population count, the economic facilities we have and all other statistical data and information that we need, “said Petrovska. .
The postponement of the census, Petrovska emphasized once again, is in order not to further upset the population that it is conducted during a pandemic.
Biljana Jordanovska
camera: Atanas Petrovski
editing: Arian Mehmeti
