It’s still uncertain whether the 2021 census of the population, households and dwellings, originally scheduled on April 1, will take off or whether Parliament in the nick of time will adopt amendments on postponing the statistical operation until September as it was agreed earlier this week by the leaders of the two largest parties in the country, SDSM’s Zoran Zaev and VMRO-DPMNE’s Hristijan Mickoski.
The State Statistical Office, the institution in charge of administering the census, has said it has no comment as to whether the headcount should take place anyway or be postponed until necessary procedures are competed in Parliament.
Justice Minister Bojan Marichikj has said that the census, in line with the existing law, should start on Thursday.
“It is up to the State Statistical Office, if it is implementing the law to the letter, certain activities should be kicked off. Whatever is done, it is up to them to estimate from a practical point of view. Any activities that will be conducted, they will be taken into consideration. Meaning, if census data are taken, they will be taken into account the same as the online census forms filled out by the diaspora are taken into account,” Marichikj stated on Wednesday evening.
The aim, he noted, is to organize the census the right way.
“We’re sorry we couldn’t pass the law by now, but I’m confident that if [adoption] is postponed for a few days, it won’t harm the process, because all parties but Alliance for Albanians and Alternativa endorse census postponement,” the Minister said.
If the amended census bill is included in Parliament’s agenda on Thursday, according to him, it could be passed as soon as possible because the legislation is in fast-tracked procedure.
No conditions were created yesterday for Parliament to convene to vote in favor of postponing the census after Parliament Speaker Talat Xhaferi held an extraordinary coordination meeting with the coordinators of the parliamentary groups of SDSM, VMRO-DPMNE, DUI, Alliance for Albanians and Alternativa, and Levica.
MP Skender Rexhepi of the Alliance for Albanians/Alternativa was against the Speaker to schedule the session. According to him, the census wasn’t being postponed until September due to the epidemiological situation, but the postponement was the result of a political decision.
