Anti-agreement unionists are confident they can prevent Mr David Trimble's re-election as the North's First Minister next week. The Assembly is expected to vote on the issue on Friday.
Under current regulations, Mr Trimble needs a majority of both unionist and nationalist members. The support of the SDLP and Sinn FΘin is guaranteed. However, anti-agreement unionists believe he will fail to secure a unionist majority. Mr Trimble needs 30 of 58 unionist members to vote for him. According to anti-agreement calculations, he will at most receive 29 votes. A coalition of 21 DUP members, three Northern Ireland Unionist Party members, three United Unionists, and Mr Bob McCartney, are expected to oppose him.
They are also confident that anti-agreement UUP member, Mr Peter Weir, will do likewise. If so, unionist ranks will be evenly split and Mr Trimble will not be re-elected. Mr Weir refused to be drawn on his voting intentions last night but said he the decommissioning issue had not been resolved satisfactorily.
"I would like to have heard from Gen de Chastelain exactly what weapons were decommissioned and how. People have a right to know these things."
Mr Trimble is also unsure of the vote of another member of his Assembly team, Ms Pauline Armitage.
Speaking last night, she said she had not made up her mind whether to support him but she also expressed concerns about decommissioning.
The Northern Ireland Unionist Party leader, Mr Cedric Wilson, is calling for an urgent meeting of all anti-agreement Assembly members to discuss tactics for next week's meeting. Anti-agreement members said Northern Ireland Office officials were desperate to ensure Mr Trimble's election and were putting tremendous pressure on them to abstain in the vote.
Meanwhile, demolition work has started on the super-sangar military installation at Newtownhamilton police station and on Sturgan Mountain watch-tower in South Armagh. Work also began on Magherafelt British army base in Co Derry, which could take up to a year to demolish.
At Stormont, the DUP returned to the Executive yesterday. The move followed Mr Trimble's decision to renominate his ministers. The DUP holds two positions - Regional Development Minister and Social Development Minister. Continuing the party's policy of internally rotating the posts, Mr Peter Robinson will replace Mr Gregory Campbell as Regional Development Minister and Mr Nigel Dodds will replace Mr Maurice Morrow as Social Development Minister.
Ulster Unionist minister, Mr Michael McGimpsey, said DUP policy was in tatters. "They are returning to office on the back of IRA decommissioning. They have implicitly accepted the de Chastelain report. They have lost the argument on decommissioning and have capitulated to the Agreement by returning to government." SDLP Agriculture Minister, Mrs Brid Rodgers, welcomed the DUP's return but called for a change of heart: "It is time the DUP got on with building the new society we all want."
The DUP also met the Independent International Commission on Decommissioning last night. In advance of the meeting, the party's deputy leader, Mr Peter Robinson, said:
"Gen de Chastelain has many questions to answer. We want to know how many of the IRA's 1,000 AK 47s have been handed over and how much semtex. We want to know how many armalites, rocket launchers, surface-to-air missiles, detonators, and hand-guns have been handed over."
Mr Robinson suggested the Provisional IRA could have decommissioned its obsolete weapons while retaining its modern arms.
He also spoke of a "blurring of the lines" between dissident republican groups and the Provisional IRA.
The UUP executive meets tomorrow to discuss the IRA's decision to put arms beyond use.