An election date for the Northern Ireland Assembly would create an incentive for political progress, nationalist and republican leaders said today.
After hour-long talks at Stormont, SDLP leader Mr Mark Durkan and Sinn Féin president Mr Gerry Adams both claimed an election date must be set to help efforts to restore devolution.
"I think particularly if people knew that they have got an absolutely reliable election date - firm, fixed and actually holding - I believe that fact would create incentives and imperatives on its own," Mr Durkan said.
"It also creates incentives and imperatives for the electorate as well and I think it is time that we all faced up to that."
Mr Adams insisted it would be a mistake if an election date was not set in the coming weeks. "The worst-case scenario would be no elections," he said. "As a democrat, I am sure that you will agree that there should be no pre-conditions on the people's right to vote.
"We must all do our best to make sure that the structures are sustainable, but who is to guarantee that the Ulster Unionist Party would get involved in sustainable institutions?" he asked. "It's not just down to republicans or to those who are allegedly involved in so-called paramilitarism."
Assembly elections scheduled for May were cancelled by British Prime Minister Tony Blair four days into the campaign, because he feared they would not produce a stable government. The British and Irish Governments were unhappy with public assurances from Sinn Féin and the IRA that republicans would do nothing to undermine the Belfast Agreement.
They wanted a declaration from the IRA that it was ending all paramilitary activity for good, including intelligence-gathering, recruiting, training, targeting, weapons procurement and involvement in all violence.
However, with London and Dublin focusing on three weeks of intense talks, parties believe there is a possibility that a Stormont poll could be held in November. The Taoiseach Mr Ahern said at the weekend that elections could only be held if there was a credible chance of an executive being formed afterwards.
Mr Durkan travels to Dublin this afternoon for talks with the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Mr Cowen.