Supporters of a rebel Ulster Unionist tonight tried to summon the party's 860-member ruling council in a bid to keep him as a party candidate in the Westminster elections.
Stormont Assembly member Peter Weir's supporters collected 133 signatures in the Ulster Unionist Council in a bid to persuade the party hierarchy to call a meeting to consider reinstating the North Down MLA as a party member.
Mr Weir was suspended by party officers for voting with the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists on 10 occasions in the Assembly.
He was also reprimanded for refusing to take the party whip at Stormont after it was withdrawn from him in January 1999 for siding with the DUP, failing to support party leader David Trimble in a vote of no confidence in him at the Assembly and failing to honour a pledge to follow the party line.
Mr Weir's suspension means he may not be allowed to go forward as the party's candidate in the Westminster elections for UK Unionist, Robert McCartney's North Down seat.
He was selected last year by the North Down Association to fight the seat.
A management committee meeting of the North Down consitituency association last night decided not to consider a replacement for him as the candidate unless his bid to overturn his suspension fails before the election.
PA