The population census, which is scheduled for November, could serve as an excuse for the parties that make up the technical government to avoid extraordinary parliamentary elections, according to "Vijesti" interlocutors.
However, they believe that, under the pressure of the international community, extraordinary parliamentary elections will be held.
Prime Minister Dritan Abazovic yesterday he said that at the end of 2023, Montenegro must have statistical data on the basis of which it will create public policies.
"That is our obligation, it is not related to the elections", Abazović told reporters in the Parliament, answering the question whether the fact that the Government made a decision at the session on Thursday to hold the population census from November 1 to 15, means that it will not be an election this year.
Minister of Finance Aleksandar Damjanović he said on Thursday at the Government session that he said that the period for the census is in accordance with the recommendation of the United Nations, which foresees that the implementation of the census does not coincide with events such as state and local election campaigns, which will not take place in the fall. The European Commission also recommends that the population census should not be held in election years.
The regular ten-year population census was supposed to be held in 2021, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus.
Vice President of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) Bojan Zekovic he said that the parties in the government are "running away in stupidity" from the elections and the evaluation of the citizens.
"Their first 'idea' was the reconstruction of the fallen government, now the parties that cannot even participate in the presidential elections want to run away from the parliamentary elections with a census," said Zeković to "Vijesta".
The census, he said, exists in order to collect statistical data important for the creation of state policies in various areas.
"It cannot serve as a hiding place from elections for parties below the census, nor for the national census," he said.
In Montenegro, citizens will declare their national and religious affiliation, as well as their language, on the census. MPs of the DF have repeatedly pointed out that after the census it will be seen how many Serbs there are in Montenegro, that is, that the majority of citizens declare their nationality in that way. From 2021, they insist that the census be held.
Executive Director of Action for Social Justice (ASP) Ines Mrdovic she said that the technical Government has long since entered the red zone of usurpation of power at the central level.
"The announcement of the census for the fall of this year by the government without political legitimacy can be evaluated as a petty political calculation by the two leading parties in that government (URA and SNP), because it gives the impression that they thought that they could rule indefinitely with minor voter support. And such a thing is simply not possible, not even in Montenegro," said Mrdović for "Vijesti".
He believes that the parties of the technical Government will use the census as an excuse for there not to be elections, but pressure from the international community should be expected.
"Just as the judges of the Constitutional Court are elected under her pressure, so there will be a very certain pressure to go to the elections, and that pressure will be more intense after the Constitutional Court is filled," she said.
Member of the Executive Board of the Social Democrats Miloš Maskovic he assessed that the URA-SNP coalition trapped Montenegro with a government in a technical mandate, trying to escape from the extraordinary parliamentary elections in every possible way.
"Determining the date of the census is nothing but another in a series of illegitimate decisions of the government in a technical mandate that is trying to extend its political life and continue with its retrograde policies that would further deepen the already existing crisis. These retrograde policies are reflected in the fact that the issue of the census, which is a purely statistical issue, is made into a political issue par excellence, even though it is not. Collecting data on religion, nation and language will only polarize our society even more brutally because it is presented to the citizens as a matter of life and death", Mašković warned.
He reminded that data on the mentioned issues are not collected in almost two-thirds of the EU member states and the Social Democrats proposed to the Parliament that these issues be excluded from the list, but that proposal was not accepted.
Eurostat previously said that ethnicity, religion and language can be sensitive issues in many countries and some member states of the European Union (EU) do not collect such data during the census.
The last census in Montenegro was held in 2011, when 45 percent of citizens declared themselves as Montenegrins, and almost 29 percent as Serbs. 8,65 percent declared themselves Bosniaks, 4,91 percent Albanians, 3,31 percent Muslims and 0,97 percent Croats.
The story of the reconstruction of the Government throwing dust in the eyes
Ines Mrdović also says that the talk of some kind of reconstruction of the Government is throwing dust in the eyes of the citizens and pure buying of additional time, because all the moves that these parties undertake indicate that they do not have the "political backbone" to face the citizens at the polls.
"Nevertheless, every guild is paid once, and that guild will pay with the voters, because their fundamental right to be represented by a government that reflects their will is openly trampled upon. Along with GP URA and SNP, it seems that the Democrats will also pay the guild, because they enabled the fall of the minority government, and now, in fear of the election result, they run away from the elections and allow the leaders of GP URA and SNP to openly usurp power," Mrdović said.
Bonus video:
