The SDLP has brought in two of the key strategists behind Fianna Fáil's 2002 election victory to advise it on aspects of its campaign for the forthcoming Assembly elections.
Former Fianna Fáil general secretary, Mr Martin Mackin, and former adviser to the Taoiseach, Mr Peter MacDonagh, have been advising the SDLP for a number of months on vote management techniques and strategies.
Both were seen as pivotal to Fianna Fáil's election success last year when the party took 49 per cent of the seats in the Dáil with less than 42 per cent of the votes.
Their advice to the SDLP is to focus on how to use vote management techniques, such as splitting constituencies between candidates and targeting transfers from other parties.
The SDLP says it is confident these strategies will enable it to retain and possibly increase on its current 24 seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly
In a briefing to journalists in Dublin yesterday a party spokeswoman described as "hype" speculation that Sinn Féin would surpass them as the largest nationalist party in Northern Ireland.
In the June 2001 Westminster elections, the party failed to win any new seats at the expense of Sinn Féin, which doubled its tally to four.
Four of the SDLP's most prominent members, Mr John Hume, Mr Séamus Mallon, Mr Eddie McGrady and Ms Bríd Rodgers, are stepping down.
"This is a PR election and obviously we do well in PR," the SDLP spokeswoman explained. "We take transfers from all over the place, unlike Sinn Féin."
Mr Mackin and Mr MacDonagh have been providing advice on strategies to hold seats in three key constituencies, South Down, Newry-Armagh and Foyle, where the party has eight of the 18 seats.
They have also helped identify constituencies in which the party could gain seats, including Strangford and North Belfast.