The parties' messages about the upcoming population census represent only their political views, which absolutely cannot and will not affect the professional and responsible implementation of the census. Therefore, the census campaign of the Statistical Office (Monstat) is the only one that citizens should take into account.
Monstat announced this to "Vijesti" yesterday, answering questions about how they view party messages in the face of the census, whether they think they can harm the process, and whether the institution has mechanisms that can prevent political census campaigns.
Part of the political actors, primarily the Coalition for the Future of Montenegro (ZBCG), is already in that campaign, and says that the census will be held "to the great regret of the former regime", that it will be "the first free census in the history of Montenegro", that "fear grips the DPS (Democratic Party of Socialists) and their satellites because there is no longer political and systemic pressure on the Serbs"...
On the other hand, the DPS and the Social Democrats (SD) are campaigning against the holding of the census, which should take place from November 1 to 15, claiming that there are no technical conditions for its implementation and that the Government does not have the legitimacy to carry it out because it has vote of no confidence. A source from the DPS told "Vijesti" the day before yesterday that the option of calling for a boycott of the census is being considered.
Monstat states that the aim of that institution is to inform the public that citizens can choose not to declare on the census questions that are used for the purpose of politicizing the census - those concerning national/ethnic affiliation, religion, mother tongue and the language a person usually speaks.
"That is, in that case, the answer 'does not want to declare' is entered, in accordance with Article 9 of the Law on the Census", they explain.
Monstat notes that this law (Article 13) defines that they coordinate and implement a public census campaign that provides full, accurate and timely information to the population about the importance and goals of that process, the manner and time of its implementation, the rights and obligations of the persons included in the census, the manner of execution obligations in inventory and data protection. They therefore appeal to all actors to allow them to inform and educate the public about the importance and significance of enumeration.
"In this regard, the only thing that the citizens of Montenegro should take into account is the campaign of the Administration for Statistics, the census campaign. All other information coming from other addresses can create misunderstanding among citizens regarding the purpose and importance of the census," Monstat announced.
Although some parties are calling for the postponement of the census, the Government, which alone can make such a decision, has repeatedly announced that this will not happen. They say that this issue should not be made into a "bogey".
DPS announced yesterday that it wrote to the Commissioner for the Economy of the European Commission Paolo Gentiloni and Director General of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) Mariana Koceva, and stated that he is asking for the postponement of the census and the inclusion of international partners in that process.
DPS claims that the census cannot be carried out in a high-quality manner, bearing in mind the current socio-political environment, which is "characterized by the collapse of the institutional system, high political tensions and the polarization of society." They add that, in a technical sense, the key problems for the realization of the census are the fact that the boundaries of certain municipalities have not been determined and the political crisis in some cities.
"Aware that in the time ahead we have to ensure that Montenegro does not falter from the European path and perseveres in the intentions of building a prosperous, civil society, we remain strongly committed to the fight for democratic and European values of society, and in this spirit we believe that it should be implemented and list", said DPS.
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