VMRO-DPMNE Warns of Not Recognizing Census, Albanians Suspicions of Its Results

Opposition party VMRO-DPMNE in North Macedonia has warned that it may not recognize the census result, which is scheduled to take place in April this year, Rel said on Saturday.
According to Stefan Andonovski, MP of VMRO-DPMNE, among the three conditions that are unclear is the reason why the census methodology has not been published that was supposed to be an integrated part of the Census Law, for all to see.
Secondly, he asks why the Social Democratic League (SDSM) is against registering or identifying citizens with fingerprints, similar to those used for personal documents, and finally why SDSM is trying to make a census in which people, citizens and institutions will not trust.
The Macedonian opposition’s suspicions relate in particular to the number of Albanians in North Macedonia. It has consistently raised the dilemma that Albanians are 25.17 percent of the population fewer than the total of 2 million people based on the 2002 census.
VMRO-DPMNE’s warning not to recognize the census has led the ruling Social Democratic League to accuse the main opposition party of “anti-state, irresponsible and destructive behavior contrary to national interests”.
“VMRO-DPMNE does not want to understand that the census is a statistical operation, not a political one, an important process to have complete data being important for policy making and further balanced development of all spheres in the country. The registration will be carried out in accordance with all Eurostat standards and regulations, in accordance with international practices,” it is said in the reaction of SDSM.
Remarks regarding the registration have been previously submitted by the Albanian opposition parties, asking for guarantees that this process will not be misused to the detriment of the interests of the Albanian people in North Macedonia.
In the Constitution, Albanians are defined as a people who speak languages ​​other than Macedonian and constitute over 20 percent of the population and based on this are defined their language rights, symbols, employment, representation, cultural rights and so on.
The Parliament of North Macedonia is expected to vote on the amendments to the law by organizing a referendum within January, which will begin preparations for the implementation of this statistical process being held 19 years after the one conducted in 2002./argumentum.al