Parliament got a new minister without portfolio - Zulfikar Zejnula, leader of the Democratic Party of Turks in Macedonia. 67 MPs voted for his appointment, 13 against. But more interesting than the vote count is the arithmetic behind it: with this move, the coalition led by VMRO-DPMNE gained one more MP for its camp.

The Democratic Party of Turks had until now been part of the European Front, in coalition with DUI. Now it crosses over to the ruling side. With that, the majority led by VMRO-DPMNE - without its partners VLEN and ZNAM - grows to 59 MPs. Anyone who wants to understand why a minister without portfolio matters should look at the arithmetic in Parliament, not the job description.

It is no accident that Zejnula's appointment was kept separate from the earlier government reshuffle. Had it been part of the same package, it would have exceeded the constitutional limit for replacing at most one third of the ministers, which would have triggered the procedure to elect an entirely new government. So nothing here is accidental - every step is calculated down to the last provision of the Constitution.

The opposition did not hold back the sarcasm. MPs ironically asked whether the new minister is in charge “of ayran, boza or of Badinter”, insinuating that the post exists not to represent anyone, but to shore up the majority. Oliver Spasovski demanded clear details about the duties and portfolio of the new government member - details that, as a rule, don't exist.

Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski defends the appointment with the line that “institutions should be led by people who have the responsibility and capacity to solve citizens' problems”. A nice sentence for any occasion. But the question hanging over this whole reshuffle is whether citizens are getting a better government - or whether one MP is simply switching sides on the scale.