Macedonia Closer To Postponing Spring Census

[Mactruth]

http://www.eurasiareview.com/world-news/europe/macedonia-closer-to-postponing-spring-census-07032011/

Macedonia may soon join neighbouring Albanian and Serbia and postpone its head count, planned for April, as country readies for early elections.

The head of Macedonia’s Census Commission, Vesna Janevska, says postponing the census is a viable option if the forthcoming general election campaign is deemed likely to interfere with the outcome.

“It would not be good if the census and an election campaign coincided,” Janevska said on Thursday.

“If elections are held in June, the campaign would not start till May, which means the two events would not coincide, but if elections are set for May, there will be interference.”


Macedonia
The centre-right government of VMRO DPMNE and the opposition Social Democrats have not agreed an exact date for the general election.

Nikola Gruevski’s government initially opted for a mid-April date but the opposition insist on mid-June as the earliest date possible if elections are to be fair.

Some argue that polls in April are practically impossible, given the procedures that need to take place beforehand. Some suggest both sides may find middle ground in a May date.

Janevska’s deputy, Albulmenaf Bexheti, went further than his boss, saying that whether or not there were elections, the census would have to be postponed anyway.

This is because the commission has allegedly not had enough time to train all the staff tasked with collecting the data. Estimates are that 9,000 people are needed.

Janevskia, on the other hand, maintains everything is running on schedule. Last week, she announced a second call for staff, after too few ethnic Albanians answered the first call.

But Bexheti said this was too late. “The call itself will last for a week and additional time is needed for training. That cannot be done until April 1 so the census will have to be postponed,” he insisted.

A government spokesman, Martin Martinovski, said the government had not yet officially considered postponing the census.
If it decides to do so, Macedonia will be third country in the region to delay a count.

Late in February, Albania postponed its population census from April to November, citing May 8 local elections as the reason for the decision.

Serbia has also postponed its planned census, from April to October. Belgrade said it had insufficient funds to carry out the count on time.

The last census in Macedonia took place in 2002. Results showed that 64.2 per cent of the population of about 2 million were Macedonian and 25.2 per cent were ethnic Albanian. Roma, Turks, Serbs and other minorities made up the rest.

The census took place a year after the signing of the 2001 Ohrid Peace Accord, which ended a short-lived armed conflict in the country between ethnic Albanian insurgents and the security forces. The Ohrid deal guaranteed more rights for ethnic Albanians.

Whether this year’s census reveals major changes in the country’s ethnic makeup remains to be seen.

Some Albanian opposition parties say they fear the census will be abused in order to lower the real number of Albanians in the country. Some Macedonians, meanwhile, fear that the census will show a large increase in Albanian numbers.

[Soldier of Macedon]

The census needs to take place and must be legitimate, so the falsity of ethnic Albanian numbers in Macedonia can be revealed. The question is, what happens if their numbers appear less than 20%? Does that mean that the treachery agreed to by our government will become void, or will Macedonian politicians once again find a way to appease foreigners at the expense of their own people?

I am all for ethnic Albanians having the same minority rights as other minorities in Macedonia, but nothing more, in fact, not a shred more after the disruption they caused in 2000-2001.

[sydney]

given the path macedonia is on I don't believe we'll ever see those numbers dip below the magic 20% that so well defines our tolerant multiculturalism.

[Vangelovski]

SoM,

While this ramkovist state exists, I don't think we will ever have an accurate census because the Albanians have both institutional power and political power through which they can ensure their "numbers" are safe.

[Imagination]

If Albanians live abroad but still arrive for the census, they will be counted as people who live outisde. They will not be counted the same way as the ones that live in Macedonia. But there are still ways to manipulate the census. If the Albanians say that they live permanently in Macedonia, and lie, there should be a special commission to check that.

[Risto the Great]

Macedonia: Census postponed to autumn

As expected:

http://www.focus-fen.net/index.php?id=n244055

Skopje. VMRO-DPMNE and Democratic Union for Integration (DUI) have agreed to postpone the census to the autumn, Macedonian Telma television station reported.
“The census will be postponed, keeping in mind the recent events. We do not regard it important to hold the census in September or October, but to hold it after the parliamentary elections,” said DUI leader Ali Ahmeti.
Macedonia’s census should have taken place in April.

[julie]

When are the parliamentary elections being held?

[fyrOM]

It didn't favoure the albanians to hold it in Spring...the Albanians in Europian countries cant take time off from work then to participate and bolster the numbers...how else are they going to make up the numbers for the FA.

[Vangelovski]

The census that wasn't still isn't.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/arti...due-head-count

Macedonia Govt Accused of Stalling Overdue Census

After a minister warned that no money was being set aside for a headcount, the main opposition party said the government clearly did not want a census to take place.

Macedonia's opposition Social Democrats, SDSM, have accused the government of deliberately failing to set aside funds for a nationwide census.

The party said the centre-right government of Nikola Gruevski has an interest in concealing fictive or deceased voters on the electoral role, which Social Democrats say are used to tip election results in the government’s favour.

“The government does not want a census because the results will show that the electoral roll is not credible,” the SDSM’s vice president, Radmila Sekerinska, said.

Sekerinska insists an accurate headcount would undermine the legitimacy of several past elections won by the ruling VMRO DPMNE party.

While the government insists it has already cleaned up the electoral roll, ahead of the March 2014 presidential elections, the opposition maintains this has not been the case.

Its concerns have been reflected in the conclusions of several OSCE/ODIHR election monitoring missions that recomended thorough a check-up of the roll.

The latest opposition reaction was prompted by Monday’s announcement from Finance Minister Zoran Stavreski, who said no funds were being set side for the census in the draft budget for 2014.

In October 2011, ethnic disputes, not the state of the electoral roll, were the main reasons why the country scrapped an already started headcount.

Ethnic Albanian parties and NGOs then claimed the Macedonian majority on the census commission had arranged the criteria with a view to lowering the real number of Albanians in the country.

Gruevski’s government then declared the census annulled after the national census commission tendered its collective resignation.

Political analyst Suad Minsini says the number of Albanians in Macedonia is not the main reason for the government's current reluctance to set another headcount. He also suspects that a census might show up inconsistencies in the electoral roll.

“VMRO DPMNE and [the ethnic Albanian junior ruling party] the Democratic Party for Integration have estimated that the damage by not doing the headcount would be less than if it was done," he said.
"But their interests are narrow, and the need for a census is greater than any narrow party interest,” Misini told the newspaper Utrinski Vesnik.

The country has not had a population census since 2002, one year after the signing of the 2001 Ohrid Peace Accord, which ended a short-lived armed conflict with ethnic Albanian insurgents.

The results of the census showed that 64 per cent of the population was Macedonian and 25 per cent were ethnic Albanian. Roma, Turks, Serbs and other minorities made up the rest.

[Risto the Great]

I'd hate for anyone to think I am a DPmNE fanboi, but the census has been stalled by none other than the ethnic Albanians if I recall correctly.

[Risto the Great]

But everyone knows the ethnic Albanians are the majority in Macedonia anyway. At least you would think it.

[Vangelovski]

Actually, Gruevski stopped the census nearly half way through because it became apparant there was some serious fraud going on. Probably the only thing he did well in his entire time as Prime Minister.

I don't really buy this whole thing that its because of the electoral roll because the electoral roll has been so messed up for so long and everyone is well aware of its problems - i.e., in a country of 2 million people there are 1.9 million voters meaning only 100,000 people are supposedly under the age of 18. Even if you count the diaspora voters (which it doesn't really) it would account for that many eligible voters.

[George S.]

I'm not surprised grujo called the census back when he found there was wholesale fraud.Albanians who were born o/s were deliberately taken to Macedonia to register them asborn in Macedonia hence ns of Macedonia able to vote.Then you had Albanians counting turks as Albanians in the census.Blind freddy could tell you these people will stop at nothing to falsify the census.They want Macedonia & they mean to get it one way or another.They aren't the 25 % they claim they are.With the eroding of sovereignity etc & other ways Macedonians are literally losing ground to their Albanian counterparts.By giving in to them look at whats happening they are asserting their sovereignity over us telling us to behave or else.I bet grujo has been given his marching orders by their Albanian masters to do their bidding.So next time there is a census to ease up & the Albanians will play catch up.