Parliament President Urges Census Integrity Amidst Criticisms
The President of the Parliament, Igor Grosu, urges politicians, as well as citizens, to not politicise the census and assures that all data provided to the enumerators are secure.
In an interview for Rlive, Igor Grosu stated that the population and housing census is natural and necessary, and that this process is the most important statistical exercise for many countries around the world.
"When it is deliberately seen that there is simply a desire to create hysteria, to make hysterical. I have told them very frankly, very sincerely, those in the opposition, this is what I told them: you have your biases, so do not politicise this exercise. Because when it was in 2004, we all supported it, and it was natural, it comes once every 10 years. All countries do it, civilised, we must do it too, and we will have a picture of our country, our society once every 10 years and after that, as I said, you can shape it, project it and, moreover, very secure information, these people are trained. Here is the National Statistics Office, these people sign a commitment, go through training everything by the book," declared the head of the Legislature.
This week, several politicians, especially those from the opposition, criticised the census questions. They argue that some questions are personal in nature, and people are not obliged to answer them. After these controversies, Prime Minister Dorin Recean also described these criticisms as an attempt to discredit the census and urged all citizens to respond to the enumerators' questions. The collection of data regarding the population and housing in the Republic of Moldova will end on July 7th. Preliminary data are expected to be published by the end of this year, and the final ones by the end of the year 2026.
Translation by Iurie Tataru