The Ulster Unionist Party leader and Northern Ireland First Minister, Mr David Trimble is confident he will emerge from next week¿s meeting of the party's ruling council with a mandate to take into next year¿s Assembly elections.
Mr Trimble held a meeting of the party's 100 member executive at their East Belfast headquarters today, ahead of next Saturday's meeting of the full 750-strong council.
The council meeting has been forced by hard-liners in the party opposed to the sharing of power with Sinn Fein and who believe the party will be electorally damaged at next May's assembly poll if they are still sharing power.
The council meeting will be the ninth called since Mr Trimble took over the leadership.
Asked today if he was confident of doing once more securing his future as UUP leader he said: "Yes, is the short answer to that."
One party member recently said Mr Trimble was like a cat with nine lives. He responded today: "People are going to have to address the possibility that this particular cat has even more than nine lives."
PA