Albanians Threaten To Boycott Macedonia Census

Two opposition parties representing the ethnic Albanian minority are calling for a boycott after their proposed amendments were rejected.

Sinisa Jakov Marusic

Skopje

Two parties representing the large ethnic Albanian minority in Macedonia have said they will not take part in the 2011 census after the government rejected their demand for the head count to be postponed from April to July.

The parties wanted the date put back so that more Albanians working temporarily abroad could get home over the summer vacation and participate.

The centre-right government, comprising the nationalist VMRO-DPMNE and an ethnic Albanian party, the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI, disagreed.

"This government is continuing with its stubborn nationalism," Imer Aliu, from the Democratic Party of Albanians, DPA, told Balkan Insight. “We will now call on Albanians to boycott the census."

The DPA accused the junior party in the coalition, the DUI, of being accomplice to a VMRO-DPMNE plot to falsely underplay the number of Albanians in Macedonia.

Parliament adopted the Law on Census on Tuesday with the support of the DUI and the opposition Social Democrats. The census will be monitored by Eurostat.

Another opposition party, the New Democracy, has also announced a boycott for the same reason. The party also proposed the amendment postponing the census, and its legislators left the session on Tuesday after the proposed change was rejected. "The law is harmful and goes against the interests of Albanians," a New Democracy legislator, Vlora Kadriu, said.

The last census in Macedonia was held in 2002. The results showed that 64.2 per cent of population were Macedonian while 25.2 per cent were Albanian. Roma, Turks, Serbs and other minorities made up the rest.

The census took place one 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 state forces. The Ohrid deal guaranteed more rights for ethnic Albanians.