SkopjeDiem Macedonia in English
SDSM MP Snezana Kalevska-Vanceva congratulated the State Statistical office (SSO) in the name of the entire party upon the completion of the 2021 Population Census. “Since the beginning, SDSM was consistent that this statistical operation was more than necessary for update of the population numbers so that we can create adequate policies in future. Even in a time of pandemic, we conducted a census at which almost 99% of the population responded and was registered,” Kalevska-Vanceva said. DUI Leader Ali Ahmeti voiced satisfaction with the Census results and addressed congratulations to SSO and all other institutions of the state that took part in the operation. He also said that if the data of the citizens whose personal data was acquired from databases of state institutions, there would be 31.51% of Albanians in the country instead of 29.5%. Halil Snopce from the Alliance for Albanians (AA) said that AA suspects the selectiveness of the Census results, saying that 132,000 citizens, or around 8.5% of the population, were not properly registered, and the data about their nationality and ethnicity is not credible. From AA they also stated that the numbers of citizens living in diaspora according to the Census do not match with data published by international institutions, like the World Bank for example. Antonio Milososki from VMRO-DPMNE said at a press conference that the results of the Census are a defeat for the population of the country. “While the government tries to depict this operation as a great success, the numbers that reveal the massive migration from the country show us that this is in fact a major failure of the entire country. Besides this, we have 7.2% of citizens who have not been registered with this operation at all, making it incomplete. For the first time, we have a group of citizens for which SSO, despite all disposable mechanisms, failed to provide data for their ethnicity, religion and mother language,” Milososki said, adding that even though VMRO-DPMNE called upon the citizens to take part in this operation, there were great calls for boycott, which have done significant damage to the entire process. “Since we find this Census incomplete, VMRO-DPMNE will conduct a new operation once we come to power,” Milososki concluded. Similar points were made by VMRO-DPMNE Leader Hristijan Mickoski in interview for Alfa TV, adding that the people facing an economic and national crisis and are in need of reconciliation and reunification. From Levica they accused that the results of the Population Census are forged and adapted to the political will of certain political centres in the country. “This was not a statistical operation, but a political one, managed by DUI and approved by SDSM. SSO themselves admit that they did not manage to acquire the data of 132,000 citizens, making the entire operation illegitimate. Levica will never recognise these results, and there will be criminal charges against all involved in this mass forgery,” said Levica MP Borislav Krmov. Reaction also came from the Association of Roma People “Ajava”, from where they claim that almost half of the Roma people that live in North Macedonia have not been registered at the Census, the results of which show that only 1.2% of the residential population and 1.02% of the non-residential population are of Romani ethnicity. According to data Avaja has acquired, there are almost 100,000 Roma people in North Macedonia, which is almost twice more than the Census results with 46,367 Roma people of 2.53% of the entire population.
