A critical meeting expected to signal how the Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) intends to deal with its internal dissidents ahead of next month's assembly elections in Northern Ireland will take place today at the party's headquarters in Belfast.
At 4 p.m. the party's full officer team of 14, including the leader, Mr David Trimble, is due to meet to consider whether to allow Mr Jeffrey Donaldson to stand for election as an Ulster Unionist.
Mr Donaldson, who defied his party leadership and led opposition within the UUP to the Belfast Agreement, applied last week for permission to stand in the assembly elections.
Under the party's rules MPs must seek a special dispensation to stand for the assembly. Permission for a dual mandate has already been granted to Mr Trimble and the deputy leader, Mr John Taylor.
How Mr Trimble treats Mr Donaldson's application is considered an important test of whether the leadership will seek to make peace with its internal dissidents ahead of the June 25th election.
Mr Donaldson will attend today's meeting at the UUP's headquarters. The meeting is expected to last about two hours, and according to one senior party source it is likely to be heated.
"It will not be plain sailing for Jeffrey Donaldson," the source said. "There are people who feel very sore about the stance he took during the referendum campaign and may well attempt to block his nomination for the assembly elections."
It is understood that if Mr Donaldson fails to secure permission to stand he will not seek a nomination for the United Unionists, the No campaigners headed by the Rev Ian Paisley and Mr Robert McCartney.
Last night UUP local party officials were meeting in Enniskillen, Co Fermanagh, to consider an application to stand by another dissident, Ms Arlene Foster.
Mr Donaldson, MP for Lagan Valley, had opposed the agreement principally because he was unhappy with its provisions for arms decommissioning, prisoner releases and reform of the RUC.
However, he said he would seek to play a constructive role in framing party policy if the agreement was passed in Friday's referendum.
Ensuring the loyalty of his election candidates is vital for Mr Trimble. Even a small group of UUP dissidents within the assembly, allied with other elected opponents of the agreement, could be enough to frustrate its work.
Sinn Fein "informally" started its election campaign yesterday, and the Democratic Unionist Party opens its campaign at a press conference in Belfast this morning.
Yesterday Sinn Fein sought an electoral pact with the SDLP in order to maximise the nationalist vote. But its appeal met a frosty reception.
The SDLP representative for Upper Bann, Ms Brid Rodgers, said: "A pact would be totally contrary to the spirit of the times because we are now going to begin work together across the [community] divide, and I think nothing could be gained from such an arrangement."
But she said people should vote for pro-agreement parties, including Sinn Fein.
The issue of decommissioning remained to the fore yesterday. The head of the international decommissioning body, Gen John de Chastelain, said he was confident that paramilitary weapons would be handed over.
"Rusting in the ground is something that is more in the past than it is in the present. Things get wrapped in polythene and heavily greased and you can put them in the ground, and they won't rust," he said.
"I think the concerns of people in Northern Ireland are that if you leave large numbers of weapons in play, no matter how well they are guarded, there is a chance that they will fall into the hands of people who have nothing to do with the political process and no interest in the use of weapons for political reasons, but criminal reasons."
The Sinn Fein vice-president, Mr Pat Doherty, described decommissioning as a "dead-end issue" which must not become an obstacle to political movement.