WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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Eraković, commenting on the cases of enumeration with "write-erase" pencils, said that so far they have not received confirmation that it was an organized action, but if it is proven that it was an intention, they will request that the enumeration be repeated in every place where an irregularity has been established.
Until this moment, we have not received confirmation that this is an organized action, and based on these events, I cannot see that there was an organized attack on the census data, but the prosecutor's office became involved in the complete story and criminal charges will be filed. I expect the process to be carried out to the end, we will follow and see what the result is at the end - said Eraković.
He pointed out that the cases of enumeration with "write-erase" pencils showed how justified was the insistence of the DPS and the opposition to have an even number of enumerators and instructors.
That is, to control as much as possible the complete census process. In the end, we established within the framework of the agreement that every citizen will be able to check whether the data is authentic, that is, whether it corresponds to the data they communicated to the enumerator. But that comes at the end of the enumeration process, we don't want to wait for that moment to determine whether something is correct or not - said Eraković, explaining that instructors and enumerators are distributed on a parity basis.
He said that for now there are sporadic cases of "write-erase" pencils.
In Podgorica, one group in several census areas, it also happened in Budva. The municipal census commissions, instructors made up of representatives of both parties, visited, in the presence of representatives of Monstat, the households where the census was conducted according to that principle. In the most interesting questions, where possible abuse can be expected, no significant deviations were found. This does not mean that until the end we do not have to be maximally responsible and attentive to every case in the census events, so that we remain concentrated - emphasized Eraković.
He reminded that DPS has an open call center and that citizens contact them every day.
We expect to do everything in our power to control any irregularity - said Eraković.
He said that the opposition will insist that the names of all enumerators who used "write-erase" pens be published if it is proven that it was an organized action.
When asked if the opposition had any contact with Prime Minister Milojko Spajić regarding such events, he said that there was no official conversation.
We have had no official contact with the Prime Minister regarding this. We have regular activities within the Committee for the Monitoring of Census Activities, where we take positions, target interested parties, persons and institutions that can give us the right answers. So, if this is recognized as an organized action, we will not only contact, but insist that the census be repeated in every place where a possible irregularity is found - Eraković pointed out.
When asked how many citizens there were and what kind of reports there were to the DPS legal team, Eraković pointed out that these data were obtained based on interactions with citizens.
These are the data we observed in the field and automatically tracked them. Citizens are the ones who, despite all our controls, should be the most responsible in the whole process, we receive different comments, suggestions, impressions every day, so there are different examples, but something that could worry us so much at this moment or something that would be a phenomenon present in all environments, no. This is a process where a large number of enumerators, more than three thousand, participate. Of course, there are people of different structures, education, motives. All the remarks that the citizens have communicated to us have been forwarded to Monstat. We insist on quick elimination of the problem. One of those was "write-erase" with pencils - said Eraković.
Commenting on the statements of some analysts that the census should be stopped because trust has been lost, Erakovic said that the opposition will stop the census if there is any alteration of data, pressure or falsification.
If at any time we see that organized work is being done with the aim of modifying data, any pressure on citizens, attempts at manipulation or falsification, of course we will immediately stop the census. We have mechanisms and possibilities and we will not allow anyone to play with this process - said Eraković.
M.J.- POBJEDA
