Pejović: It is expected that we will announce the results of the census in the first half of October

The director of the Directorate for Statistics (Monstat) Miroslav Pejović announced that Monstat carries out all the activities provided for by the Census Law, and that this institution has provided all the conditions for the full implementation of the Agreement on the Conditions for the Census of Population, Households and Apartments, which was signed by the Government of Montenegro. political parties and national councils/councils.

He reacted on the occasion of "the writings in the media, which could be heard in the previous days, but which were not argued".

He said that as the director of the Directorate for Statistics, he is obliged to present to the public a number of facts, "which confirm that the Directorate for Statistics does its work professionally and exclusively in accordance with the law and the principles of official statistics".

Pejović said that it is expected that the results of the census will be announced in the first half of October.

"Vijesti" broadcast his announcement in full:

"1. The Directorate of Statistics does not violate the law.

Publication of census results is defined by Article 30 of the Law on the Census of Population, Households and Dwellings ("Official Gazette of Montenegro", No. 140/22 dated 16.12.2022, 105/23 dated 28.11.2023). The same stipulates that the Directorate for Statistics will publish the final results according to the Annual Plan of Official Statistics and the Calendar of Publication of Statistical Data. The aforementioned documents define that the 2023 Census of Population, Households and Apartments Announcements will be published successively in the second half of 2024, after data entry, processing and control. Therefore, the law has not been violated because the second half of 2024 lasts for another four months and the Directorate of Statistics did not specify the publication date or communicate it to the public in any announcement or statement.

2. The Directorate for Statistics implements all the activities provided for in the Law on the Census, and the activities defined in Articles 26a and 26b thereof, which were adopted by the Parliament of Montenegro in November 2023, are ongoing.

The Law on the Census gave the Directorate of Statistics the legitimacy to prepare and implement all activities related to the preparation and implementation of the census. It stipulates the obligation for the Directorate of Statistics to provide the citizens of Montenegro with the possibility of checking their data from the census related to ethnic and cultural characteristics. The implementation of this activity provided for the implementation of two independent tender procedures, the first of which was launched during February 2023, when the first tender was announced for the development of special software for checking the above data. After three failed tenders, from the fourth attempt it was successfully completed and as a result we have developed software. The application of the developed software is conditioned by law on the revision of the code, which required the announcement of a new tender. Since this tender was not successful the first time, it was necessary to repeat it. We will have the final information about the outcome of the second in a row tender for software code revision tomorrow, and we will inform the public about it as always, in a timely and transparent manner. Therefore, according to the above, the responsibility of the Directorate for Statistics is precisely the consistent implementation of the Law on the Census, and failed tenders cannot be attributed to non-fulfillment of the obligations of this institution.

3. In the end, the Directorate for Statistics, according to its responsibility, provided all the conditions for the full implementation of the Agreement on the conditions for maintaining the census of population, households and apartments, which was signed by the Government of Montenegro, political parties and national councils/councils.

Pursuant to the aforementioned Agreement, the Administration has provided conditions that enable the implementation of all required controls of the entered data by the actors mentioned in the agreement - political parties and national councils/councils. What follows is the appointment of the person who will perform the control, which is the obligation of the aforementioned actors.

4. Control of the census data by pairing with the MUP registers.

In addition, we remind the public that the census law provides for the possibility of controlling census data by matching them with available administrative registers. In this sense, and at the request of the opposition, amendments to the set of laws were adopted, which provide the Directorate for Statistics with access to the MUP registers, which would enable additional checks of the census data. The matching of data with available administrative registers is largely completed, but not with the data of the Central of the MUP population register for reasons of a technical nature. We believe that through active communication with the MUP, the remaining control will be removed and provided in the near future.

5. Compliance with all European standards in the preparation of the results of official statistics, and thus the census.

The Directorate for Statistics is part of the European statistical community, and respects all the principles of the Code of European Practice with an emphasis on data quality, while respecting the principles of independence and professionalism in its work, which was highlighted in the response of the director of EUROSTAT to the letter from MONSTAT (Administration for Statistics of Montenegro Above - MONSTAT), that it is of crucial importance that the Directorate for Statistics performs this important statistical task in a professional and independent manner.

6. Examples of publication of census data in other countries.

The processing of census data does not depend on the size of the country's population. All control rules apply equally regardless of the size of the population. As an example, we cite the case of Croatia, which conducted the census by collecting data via the Internet and via laptops during November 2021, and published the data after 10 months - September 2022. Furthermore, North Macedonia also had a similar example, which also collected data with the help of laptops, with the use of registers for data processing (without input). The processing lasted 6 months, and in Albania 7 months. In addition, European regulations provide that census data from EU member states are submitted 27 months after the reference year. Therefore, the process of data processing is not a simple job and mere counting of census slips, but a far more complex data processing that is carried out on the collected data, where the emphasis is given to professional standard data processing procedures of official statistics.

On the basis of the above, it can be concluded that there is no basis for the claims conveyed in the media, which refer to disobeying the law or avoiding any obligations that the Directorate for Statistics has in the process of implementing this statistical action, but on the contrary, the Directorate for Statistics is doing its job professionally in accordance with the law and the principles of official statistics. So, when the last two prerequisites for the publication of the final results of the census are fulfilled, namely functional software that gives citizens the opportunity to check their data on ethnic and cultural issues, and when the matching of data with the MUP registers is carried out, as the last control mechanism , the conditions for publishing the final results of the census will be met. "Looking at the stages of implementation, the time frame that is necessary for the complete implementation of the mentioned activities and the defined period of data publication, it is expected that we will publish the results in the first half of October," the announcement states.