The census activities have been carried out for three days now. The on-site picture is clear. The census teams have the required documents and the first citizens of Macedonia have already been taken record of. The tension that culminated Friday, a day before the census went underway, eased on Saturday at the very beginning of the largest statistical operation in the country, Nova Makedonija reports.

If the previous president of the Census Commission resigned explaining that a census forfeit was being plotted, the new president Slobodanka Gievska expects the census to be carried out successfully. The other state institutions included in the census activities expect the same.

The census-related problems occurred when representatives of the Albanian community asked that those having stayed abroad for more than 12 months be taken record of too provided they returned to Macedonia at least once in the past year. However, representatives of the ethnic Albanian parties say they do not appeal to ethnic Albanians to boycott the census.