Twenty-six out of the 42 members of the House of Representatives voted in favour of the proposed candidates, while the vote was boycotted by deputies from the League of Independent Social Democrats (SNSD) of Republika Srpska President Milorad Dodik. This party said earlier that the nominations were unlawful because they were made beyond the deadlines envisaged by law.
During a brief debate before the vote, opposition MPs criticised the inadequacy of some of the proposed candidates and warned of the under-representation of women. Sasa Magazinovic of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) said that the new Council of Ministers was unconstitutional because none of the ministers came from the ranks of ethnic minorities.
Dijana Zelenika of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) 1990 party, who abstained from the vote, said that some of the candidates, such as the one nominated by the HDZ BiH party, were "totally incompetent".
Denis Zvizdic, whose appointment was approved by parliament more than a month ago at the proposal of the Democratic Action Party (SDA), is the new Chairman of the Council of Ministers. The Council consists of nine more ministers, including four Croats, three Serbs and two Bosniaks.
Igor Crnadak of the Democratic Progress Party is the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, while Vjekoslav Bevanda of the HDZ BiH will serve as Minister of Finance. Petar Grubesa and Marina Pendes, both from the HDZ BiH, will serve as Minister of Justice and Minister of Defence respectively.
The Serb Democratic Party (SDS) nominated Mirko Sarovic as Minister of Foreign Trade and Dragan Mektic as Minister of Security. The predominantly Bosniak SDA party appointed Adil Osmanovic as Minister of Civil Affairs and Communication and Semiha Borovac as Minister of Human Rights and Refugees. The Democratic Front (DF) named Slavko Matanovic as Minister of Transport and Communications.
A new government of the Bosniak-Croat entity, known as the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is expected to be appointed at a session of the lower house of the entity parliament later in the day, which would bring the process of government formation in the country to completion.