Kosovo Warns of Census Delay, Blaming Pandemic and Elections

The census in Kosovo that was due to be held this year for the first time in ten years might have to be postponed due to the pandemic and last Sunday's early parliamentary elections, Kosovo's Agency for Statistics, KAS, told BIRN.

"The population in Kosovo will be registered via the 'face-to-face' method, and the data will be taken by members of households," KAS told BIRN, explaining, however, that this method required certain conditions.

Around 3,000 to 3,200 staff will be contracted to be part of the process, which should take place "when there is no challenge that may have an impact on the census, such as: instability of the country, natural causes (earthquakes, floods, large population movements, etc.), and not being an election year, in a pandemic, etc," KAS told BIRN.

The census was expected to be held in September and October. However, this was decided before the COVID-19 pandemic and snap parliamentary elections disrupted things.

Pandemic prevention measures in place are a potential obstacle to various activities linked to the census, such as awareness campaigns and the house-to-house field work.

KAS said one obstacle could also be that "household members may refuse / not allow recorders inside the house… as the interview is expected to last about 30 to 40minutes".

Kosovo held early parliamentary elections on Sunday, and KAS is waiting for the country to receive a new government that must be place for at least six months prior to the census.

Kosovo also expects to hold local elections between September and November, and KAS told BIRN that, "according to international recommendations, registration and local elections are not preferred at almost the same time". 

Another obstacle could be...