Dissident Ulster Unionist, Ms Pauline Armitage, has announced she intends to vote against Mr David Trimble in tomorrow’s ballot to re-elect him as Northern Ireland First Minister.
Her support, and that of fellow hardline UUP member Mr Peter Weir, is crucial if Mr Trimble is to gain the majority unionist backing he needs.
The two MLAs met decommissioning chief General John de Chastelain yesterday to gain more information on what IRA weapons he had seen being put beyond use.
However, Ms Pauline Armitage said she was not sufficiently convinced to endorse his return to government with Sinn Féin.
Meanwhile Sinn Féin’s Mr Martin McGuinness called for fresh Assembly elections if MLAs fail to elect a First and a Deputy First Minister at Stormont tomorrow.
"It is up to unionist Assembly members what they do tomorrow. In common with most people in the North (of Ireland) and indeed on the island it is my fervent hope that they will elect a First and Deputy First Minister," he said. If they failed to do so, he said, an election should be called.
"It would be ludicrous to give the votes of one or two individuals precedence over the democratic wishes of the electorate which voted for the Good Friday Agreement and put the political institutions into being."