The Alliance Party tonight ruled out "redesignating" as a unionist party to prop up UUP leader Mr David Trimble in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
It appears likely Mr Trimble will face serious difficulty in being re-elected when the Assembly meets next week to select a First and Deputy First Minister. He requires majority approval from all unionist members of the Assembly to succeed.
The announcement by Alliance deputy leader Ms Eileen Bell followed speculation that the Alliance would change its status at next week's meeting of the Assembly.
Mrs Bell said: "Alliance has a clear identity as a cross-community and anti-sectarian party. We are neither unionist nor nationalist. We represent a significant section of the Northern Ireland electorate that does not wish to be associated with tribal politics.
"So it is unreasonable and unrealistic to expect Alliance to compromise its cross-community identity as it would be to expect either the SDLP or Sinn Féin to compromise their Nationalist identity."