Sinn Féin and the SDLP have criticised the re-election of Prof Sir Desmond Rea as chairman of the Policing Board last night.
Sir Desmond, who has chaired the board which holds the PSNI to account since its inception, defeated Pauline McCabe, an independent member of the board, by 13 votes to six.
Republicans, who refuse to take their seats on the board, said the election of Sir Desmond for a second term illustrated unionists' unwillingness to consider genuine power-sharing while the SDLP said it was "a missed opportunity".
One DUP source told The Irish Times, before last night's election, the party would prefer to stick with Sir Desmond in the chair as he was a known quantity.
Barry Gilligan, a prominent businessman and member of the outgoing board, was elected vice-chairman unopposed.
Mr Gilligan replaces Denis Bradley who did not put his name forward when the board was reconstituted last month.
The new board, which controversially has a majority of political appointees over party political members, has been in private session at a hotel in Limavady, Co Derry.
Mr Bradley suggested last week that the next chairman should be from a nationalist background. The SDLP agreed with his sentiments.
But Sir Desmond responded last night, following his election, saying his backers came from both communities and he was pleased about that.
"I'm very gratified about that, simply because I have sought over the past four years to seek to interpret the mind of the board to the wider community."
Declining to comment in detail about Sinn Féin's continued boycott of the board, Sir Desmond said the party's stance was a matter for "wider politics".
He added: "The fact that Sinn Féin is not on the police board creates a vacuum that the dissidents can play their games in and it sends a very powerful signal to the whole of the community."
The SDLP said last night that both Sir Desmond and Mr Gilligan should be congratulated.
However, board member Alex Attwood said: "It is of regret that Pauline McCabe was not elected chair. It was time for a new chair, and particularly a person with new ideas, who was strong on Patten [ report], and with a different background than the past chair. For a lot of reasons, change would have been good. There has been a missed opportunity.
"The Policing Board has been the best of the institutions of the Good Friday Agreement. Policing change is irreversible. The agenda to deepen policing change is bigger than any individual member of the board or the board itself."
Sinn Féin criticised the election. Policing spokesman Gerry Kelly said: "Today those UUP and DUP members of the Policing Board sent out a very clear message at this delicate time in the peace process that they seem incapable of embracing concepts of equality, respect and power-sharing."