Acting leader of the Democratic Party of Socialists of Montenegro (DPS) Danijel Zivkovic has said at today’s press conference that DPS is requesting the postponement of the population census, which should take place from 1 to 15 November.
He says that the recommendations are that the census should not be held at a time when political conditions are unstable and when it coincides with an election year.
“In addition, we see that we have instability in the region that can easily spill over to Montenegro, as well as the region’s interest in the census results. For the past three years, we have had the undermining of the civil concept of society and growing inter-ethnic disagreements. This requires an adequate response and a serious approach”, Zivkovic stresses.
If we add to that that Montenegro does not have a government, that we are in an institutional collapse, it is not possible to carry out a regular census, Zivkovic points out.
The census, he adds, includes the control of international institutions – the European Commission and Eurostat, as was the case back in 2003 and 2011.
“We invite them to join the monitoring process as a matter of urgency, and we will address them through the official channels as well. Whoever thinks that the census can be quickly prepared in this way within a month, that everyone has confidence in this process, is seriously mistaken”, says Zivkovic.
The census, he adds, also implies internal control by political entities and the civil sector. According to Zivkoivc, someone had the intention of speeding up the census by force. He also says that at this moment there are no prerequisites, even in the technical sense, for organizing the census. He recalls that by law mayors are the presidents of census commissions. Zivkovic calls on the caretaker Government not to do anything by force, and that in case they do so, they will face an adequate response.
