Apostol Simovski, the Zaev regime appointed head of the State Statistics Bureau (DZS), rejected the request from VMRO-DPMNE that the census is held electronically. The demand was made as the number of coronavirus cases spikes, and citizens are scared of allowing census takers in their homes. DZS is having enormous difficulty hiring enough census takers, and Zaev said that he will order public administration employees to help in the process.

We have clear Covid guidelines that must be respected. We guarantee that they will be followed through, Simovski said, insisting that the in-person census process will be safe.

The opposition VMRO-DPMNE party insists that an electronic census will be just as efficient. It is done by comparing various data entries from different institutions and utility companies to determine if a citizen actually resides in Macedonia and for how long. But Zaev is under a strong pressure from the Albanian parties to conduct a full census which will include the large Albanian diaspora and represent emigrant Albanians as actual residents of the country.