The British and Irish governments are under pressure to ensure the survival of the Belfast Agreement after the Ulster Unionist Party and the SDLP sustained dramatic reverses in the Westminster election in Northern Ireland yesterday.
Sinn Fein and the anti-agreement DUP made significant gains in the election. The DUP increased its Westminster representation from three seats to five and Sinn Fein doubled its total of seats to four.
The two governments must now devise a means of ensuring that the agreement can survive when negotiations begin on Monday week.
The number of Ulster Unionist seats dropped from nine to six while the SDLP held its three seats but failed to take West Tyrone, which was won by the Sinn Fein vice-president, Mr Pat Doherty.
One of the biggest shocks on a day of surprises came in Fermanagh-South Tyrone, where Ms Michelle Gildernew, the Sinn Fein candidate, took the seat from the Ulster Unionists by 53 votes after a recount.
With victory confirmed for Ms Gildernew, the UUP candidate, Mr James Cooper, said he did not accept the result and was considering challenging it in court because of electoral irregularities in the constituency.
The UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, won Upper Bann after a recount, but he was heckled and jostled by a number of DUP supporters as he entered the count in Portadown.
Mr Trimble could face a leadership challenge later this month at the Ulster Unionist Council. However, he played up party victories in North Down and South Antrim and claimed that DUP tactics had handed the seat to Sinn Fein in Fermanagh-South Tyrone.
The DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, who retained his North Antrim seat, said it was now evident that the majority of unionists were opposed to the agreement.
Dr Paisley said that the British Prime Minister, Mr Tony Blair, would be guilty of "fascism" if he tried to exclude the DUP from the negotiations.
The Sinn Fein president, Mr Gerry Adams, who retained West Belfast with an increased majority, said the republican vote confirmed Sinn Fein's commitment to the agreement and the peace process. "The people have endorsed the vision of tomorrow - an Ireland at peace and free from the shackles of the union with Britain", he added.
