The Belfast Agreement involved principled compromise but not compromised principles and should be endorsed by all sections of the community, the SDLP leader, Mr John Hume, said.
"The integrity of nobody's position has been surrendered in this agreement," he said at the opening in Belfast yesterday of the SDLP's campaign for a Yes vote.
He said it would be the most historic vote people would ever cast because they would be laying the foundation for peace and stability for their children and grandchildren. He believed there would be a massive turnout. The agreement was a momentous opportunity and did not involve sectional victory or partisan defeat.
"Nobody's identity is diminished by the agreement. Nobody's rights are threatened by the agreement. Nobody's aspiration is thwarted by the agreement."
The SDLP was commending the agreement to every voter, both in the North and in the Republic, and people could vote for it with "a sense of privilege, a sense of pride and a real sense of purpose".
Mr Hume said he believed the Yes campaign would now gain momentum. "The Nos will be exposed because they have no alternative."
The party's deputy leader, Mr Seamus Mallon, said decommissioning could not be used as a precondition to prevent people from taking office in the Assembly. "It was not a valid precondition in terms of entering the talks and it's not a valid precondition in terms of entering the Assembly, its committees and its executive. I think that is clear in the agreement."
He called on Sinn Fein to back the agreement in its entirety. "You cannot have one toe in the water and one toe out. It is a package and it is one of the best and most comprehensive arrangements that has ever been made."