Unionist reaction: The Good Friday agreement was "dead and buried" by the emerging results from the Northern assembly elections, the DUP leader, the Rev Ian Paisley, said last night.
Despite the DUP surge, the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, remained defiant. Speaking in his Upper Bann constituency, he said: "There is bombastic claim after bombastic claim, week in, week out, month in, month out, and year in, year out, which has not been backed up by facts."
Later, after he topped the poll and was elected, Mr Trimble tried to shift the focus on to republicans and the future of the IRA.
"My ultimate aim is to see a society here operating entirely peacefully and democratically and so, the first object now, as it was beforehand, is the matter of compelling republicans that they have to now abandon all elements of their military machine," he said.
Meanwhile, the dissident Ulster Unionist MP, Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, said there would have to be major changes at the highest level of his party following the UUP's poor election performance.
Dr Paisley, for his part, said the DUP would not be softening its stance of outright refusal to negotiate with Sinn Féin.
"No, I'm not talking to Sinn Féin," he said. "And my party's not talking to Sinn Féin, and anybody that talks to Sinn Féin will be out of my party.
"I think I'm entitled to ignore murderers. I don't see Mr Bush and Mr Blair talking to terrorists. They're destroying them. They're using millions and millions of pounds to blow them out of existence."
The 77-year-old politician also moved to quash mounting rumours that he would be relinquishing his leadership of the DUP. He said there was "nonsense . . . talked in the press that Ian Paisley is past his best, he's ready for the grave, and then a band of glorious liberals will somewhere appear from the womb of nothingness and take over the DUP . . . That's utter nonsense. I am the leader of the DUP."
Asked about the aftermath of the election, he said the result showed that the UUP leader, Mr David Trimble, was "yesterday's man".
He also reiterated the DUP's plan to scrap the Good Friday agreement. He said the DUP was committed to going "back to the drawing board and get a system of democracy that both nationalists and unionists . . . can buy into."
Commenting on the UUP results, Mr Donaldson said: "I think when a party has lost as badly as the UUP has done in some areas, you have to look at changes at the highest level of the party, but I'm not going to say any more than that."
The Lagan Valley MP, who topped the poll with almost three quotas yesterday, said results elsewhere showed there was not widespread support for the party leadership's approach to the Belfast Agreement.
Up to six other anti-agreement members of the UUP in other constituencies are expected to be elected.