The two days of the Assembly election count proved triumphant for the Women's Coalition, but disappointing for Alliance. After 28 years pushing the moderate line, Alliance did not make the breakthrough it was hoping for. But after a wet week in politics the Women's Coalition is on a roll.
The cruelty of politics was starkly defined late on Friday night at Belfast City Hall. There was Ms Monica McWilliams of the Women's Coalition, arms folded over the balustrade, confidently awaiting the final count which she knew would bring her into the Assembly.
Mr Steve McBride, a long-standing and senior member of Alliance, had absented himself earlier, realising that the seat he thought should be his was going to Ms McWilliams.
It was a bitter and double blow for Mr McBride. Last month his party colleagues on Belfast City Council refused to allow him take the position of Lord Mayor, handing it to Mr David Alderdice instead because they believed Mr McBride was a certainty for the Assembly.
Alliance was hoping for seven or eight, or even more, seats. In the end, it won six: the party leader, Lord Alderdice, in East Belfast; Mr Sean Neeson in East Antrim; Mr Seamus Close in Lagan Valley; Ms Eileen Bell in North Down; Mr Kieran McCarthy in Strangford; and Mr David Ford in South Antrim.
The Women's Coalition reckoned that with a big swing Ms McWilliams might take a seat in South Belfast. They had the excuses prepared if they didn't. Yet not only did they take South Belfast, but Ms Jane Morrice, a former BBC journalist and former head of the European Commission office in Belfast, surprisingly captured a seat in North Down. Its six other candidates all performed well.
The election of the two women reflected the cross-religious nature of the Coalition: Ms McWilliams is a Catholic, Ms Morrice a Protestant. While their successes were in predominantly middle-class constituencies, the party also has working-class members.
Ms McWilliams rejects any description of the party as high-toned and bourgeois. She says the party will bring a radical dynamic to the Assembly. While she does not view the coalition "as like Alliance", it is widely perceived that those who elected her and Ms Morrice broadly come from the same middle ground as Alliance supporters.
Both Alliance and the Women's Coalition intend to play an instrumental and "civilising" role in the Assembly. The two parties will operate tactically to maximise their influence on the main unionist and nationalist blocs. Acting independently of each other, they hope to see themselves in a number of situations where they hold the balance of power.
This explains why Ms McWilliams firmly rejected some suggestions that she might accept the position of chairman, or speaker, of the Assembly. Alliance, conscious that it is unlikely to have a ministerial post, may be tempted, however, were the SDLP and the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) to be so generous. The UUP certainly will need every vote it can get in the Assembly to withstand the pressure from the anti-agreement unionist bloc. As Lord Alderdice insisted over the weekend, Alliance plans to designate itself as non-aligned or centrist in the Assembly, despite some speculation that it may describe itself as unionist to strengthen Mr Trimble's hand against the anti-agreement unionists led by the DUP.
Further down the line, though, should anti-agreement members within the UUP jump ship to the unionist opposition, Alliance may choose to accept a unionist designation to assist Mr Trimble. Lord Alderdice hopes, however, that Mr Trimble will be able to keep his charges in check.