Zoran Zaev appointed his former Secretary General Dragi Raskovski to adviser in the Government. This vacates his position, and opens the prospect of having another of Zaev’s close confidants, the leader of the SDSM party Albanian wing Muhamed Zekiri, to take the position.

Zekiri was expected to be named co-head of the FZOM public healthcare fund, a huge operation that directs funds from the public healthcare tax to providers. The previous co-head of FZOM, Zaev’s childhood friend Den Doncev, resigned after serious corruption and racketeering allegations. But this now looks in jeopardy since Zekiri, who attended a madrassa for high school and is a former journalist, may be found to lack the formal education needed for the appointment.

Raskovski is also leaving the position with numerous corruption allegations behind him. He was initially supposed to be replaced by Damjan Mancevski, from the Skopje wing of the SDSM party, but he eventually decided to withdraw from politics. Raskovski also suffered the indignity of being kicked out of his office in the Government by Artan Grubi, who is now Zaev’s de-facto co-Prime Minister.

Fokus reports that Zekiri may also end up as head of the Macedonian public television, in which case Zaev would appoint a young and unknown person for his Secretary General in the Government.