Minister without portfolio

A minister without portfolio is a government minister without specific responsibility as head of a government department. The sinecure is particularly common in countries ruled by coalition governments and a cabinet with decision-making authority wherein ministers without portfolio, while they may not head any particular offices or ministries, may still receive a ministerial salary and have the right to cast a vote in cabinet decisions. The office may also exist to be given to party leaders whose offices (such as a parliamentary leader) would not otherwise enable them to sit in Cabinet.

In Albania, a "Minister without portfolio" is considered a member of the government who is generally not in charge of a special department, does not have headquarters or offices and usually does not have administration or staff. This post was first introduced in 1918 during the Përmeti II government, otherwise known as the Government of Durrës. The members of this cabinet were referred to as Delegatë pa portofol (delegate without portfolio). The name "minister" was used two years later, during the government of Sulejman Delvina. In the 1990s the usage of the name Sekretar Shteti (Secretary of State) was common to refer to such a position. Mostly these roles were given to smaller allies by the leading parties. Nowadays the name Ministër i Shtetit (State Minister or Minister of State) is used.

James Hutchison was given the title in the First Fisher ministry, and Willie Kelly was given the title in the Cook Ministry from June 1913 to September 1914.

Stanley Bruce was given the title of minister without portfolio when he took up his position in 1932 as the Commonwealth Minister in London. He was given the title by Lyons' Cabinet so that he could better represent the PM and his colleagues free from the limitations of a portfolio. In this case the title was a promotion and carried considerable responsibilities.

Bangladesh appoints ministers without portfolio during cabinet reshuffles or fresh appointments. Ministers are not usually appointed without portfolio as a coalition negotiation – all long run ministers end up with a portfolio. Suranjit Sengupta was a minister without portfolio in Sheikh Hasina's second government. The most recent minister without portfolio is from the Interim government of Bangladesh, Mahfuz Alam who is also an adviser to the chief adviser

The Constitution determines that the Ministries (and also other bodies headed by a Minister of State) are provided for by law, so the Federal Government has less freedom to create and reformulate portfolios as it happens in other cabinets.

During the brief parliamentary experience, the position of "Extraordinary Minister" was instituted to provide for political and administrative affairs within the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, it was equivalent in prerogatives, advantages and salaries to a Minister of State. There were no nominations after the return to presidentialism, but a 1964 law created an "Extraordinary Ministry" to coordinate some related bodies that would be equivalent to a ministry of the interior. The reorganization of federal public administration in 1967 provided for the appointment of up to four Extraordinary Ministers to perform temporary duties of a relevant nature.

Currently, the legislation requires that the Coordinator of the Government Transition Cabinet (the team of the candidate elected to the office of President of the Republic) be appointed as an Extraordinary Minister if the nominee is a Senator or a Federal Deputy. In 2018, then President Michel Temer issued a provisional measure creating an "Extraordinary Ministry of Public Security", it became a common ministry after National Congress converted the provisional measure into law.