The constituent session was convened by Stjepan Kresic of the Croatian Party of Rights (HSP) who was the chairman of the Federation's upper house in its previous make-up.
The three cantons with the HDZ BiH and the HDZ 1990 in power have not yet appointed their deputies to the House of Peoples in the Bosnian Federation's parliament, trying to prevent the formation of the government in this entity because they are dissatisfied with the manner in which the Social Democratic Party (SDP)-led bloc is trying to fill the posts designated for Croats. They also accused the SDP of ignoring the will of the Croat electorate.
The main electoral commission has not yet approved the election of deputies from other cantons, insisting that the approval of the mandate can be given when all cantons have appointed their deputies to the 58-seat House of Peoples.
However, following Kresic's proposal, the deputies who came to today's session were sworn in and signed declarations on their mandate.
The rump House of Peoples today nominated Zivko Budimir of the HSP, a retired general of the Croat Defence Council (HVO), as the future president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The incumbent president Borjana Kristo of the HDZ BiH issued a statement criticising the organisation of the upper house's inaugural session when no conditions had been met.
The house nominated Mirsad Kebo of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA) as the federal vice-president coming from the Muslim (Bosniak) people and Svetozar Pudaric of the SDP as the candidate for the post of the vice-president, designated for the Serbs.
Their nominations should be endorsed by the lower chamber of parliament -- the House of Representatives -- and finally okayed by the House of Peoples.
The president and the two vice-presidents are to nominate a premier-designate in the process of the formation of the government in the Bosnian federation.
Later on Thursday, the House of Representatives endorsed Budimir's nomination for the president of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kebo and Pudaric as the federation's vice-presidents, although the two HDZ parties boycotted the procedure.
Earlier on Thursday, several thousand Bosnian Croats staged protest rallies in six towns, dissatisfied with the position of Croats in the attempts to form a government in Bosnia.
The HDZ BiH president Dragan Covic said he did not rule out the possibility of new elections.
The protesters said attempts were being made to throw the entire Croat people out of the government, calling on political representatives of the other two peoples and the international community to stop humiliating the Bosnian Croats.
The one-hour protest rallies were organised by nine associations of war veterans, a student association and the association of Croat intellectuals in Mostar, Siroki Brijeg, Livno, Vitez, Zepce and Orasje.
In the meantime, Covic warned the presidents of the SDP and the SDA, Zlatko Lagumdzija and Sulejman Tihic respectively, against triggering off a crisis.