David Trimble was last night considering his political future after the Ulster Unionist Party's worst ever result in Westminster elections, writes Gerry Moriarty Northern Editor.
However, Mark Durkan's leadership of the SDLP has been cemented after he retained his seat and Alasdair McDonnell pulled off a surprise victory for the party in South Belfast, joining the party's other MP, Eddie McGrady, in the House of Commons.
Mr Trimble was the biggest political casualty of a day of political drama at many of the 18 Westminster counts in Northern Ireland. The Nobel Laureate was soundly defeated by DUP candidate David Simpson in the Upper Bann constituency.
The UUP representation at Westminster was reduced from five to one, with Lady (Sylvia) Hermon in North Down the only survivor. The DUP increased its seats from six to nine while Sinn Féin won one extra seat, Conor Murphy taking Séamus Mallon's former seat in Newry and Armagh, increasing the party's representation from four to five.
The British and Irish governments will quickly assess if there is a political way forward after this result. They will be comforted by the fact that while the UUP was virtually obliterated at Westminster, the SDLP ensured the political middle ground was not totally wiped out.
In a statement last night the Taoiseach said it was "time to move beyond the current stalemate".
"Now that the elections are over it is time to definitively resolve the crisis of trust and confidence . . . and to get on with the vital project of fully implementing the Good Friday agreement.
". . . In the course of the election campaign and in response to the meeting last January with the Government, Sinn Féin have appealed to the IRA to commit itself to purely peaceful and democratic methods. I said at the time that this initiative had potential. We await a reply to this appeal. That reply must be clear. And it must be decisive."
The British Prime Minister last night appointed Peter Hain as the new Northern Secretary, to replace Paul Murphy. One of his first responsibilities will be to assess whether the IRA is likely to respond positively and quickly to Sinn Féin president Gerry Adams's call on the IRA to fully embrace peace and democracy.
While Sinn Féin now has a much stronger mandate, party leader Gerry Adams gave no indications as to when the IRA would respond to his urgings to effectively cease all activity.
Mr Trimble also refused to say whether he planned to imminently resign as UUP leader after the DUP's David Simpson defeated him by over 5,000 votes in the Upper Bann constituency. The UUP chairman, James Cooper, said the party was "bitterly disappointed" with the election result. He indicated there would be no comment on the leadership until after the counts for the local elections over Monday and Tuesday.
Mr Trimble acknowledged the DUP's achievement yesterday but said it now had a responsibility to make politics work. "I believe they have inherited from Ulster Unionism a very strong position for unionism and I hope they manage to safeguard that position over the course of the months to come," he added.
Re-elected SDLP MP for South Down, Eddie McGrady, said his party had a "hugely successful day against all the odds and against all the pundits". Mr Dominic Bradley failed to hold Mr Mallon's seat in Newry and Armagh, but SDLP leader Mark Durkan won Foyle by almost 6,000 votes against the challenge of Sinn Féin general secretary Mitchel McLaughlin.
In South Belfast, where unionists have an overall majority of votes, SDLP candidate Dr Alasdair McDonnell took the seat against the challenge of the DUP's Jimmy Spratt and the UUP's Michael McGimpsey. It is the first time a nationalist has taken South Belfast.
These results reflect a continuing growth in nationalist seats at Westminster. It means that for the first time nationalists now have eight seats - five for Sinn Féin and three for the SDLP - while unionists have 10. In the 2001 Westminster elections nationalists won seven seats - four Sinn Féin, 3 SDLP.
There was considerable unionist tactical voting for SDLP candidates, although Mr Durkan would have taken Foyle without such assistance. "I have no shame in any unionist votes that I received in this election because my party earned them," said the SDLP leader.
"We won this election on a bedrock of solid SDLP nationalist votes because we learned the lessons of previous elections. We worked harder we worked stronger, we fought harder for votes, we were hungrier for votes, we got our stay-at-home votes back out and there's a lesson for us as a party more widely and it's a lesson that we will be learning and we will be applying positively," Mr Durkan added.