Unionists hold the majority

Unionists will hold a majority in the next Northern Ireland Executive if power-sharing returns later this month.

After all 108 seats were filled in the Assembly election, the Democratic Unionist leader the Rev Ian Paisley and Sinn Fein's Martin McGuinness were on course to be Northern Ireland's next First and Deputy First Ministers.

However it was unclear if power-sharing would be in place by Prime Minister Tony Blair and Irish Taoiseach Bertie Ahern's March 26 devolution deadline.

Even though Northern Ireland Secretary Peter Hain warned the Assembly would close if parties failed to form a government by the deadline, the DUP continued to insist any decision they made on power-sharing would depend on republicans demonstrating they were actively supporting the Northern Ireland police in their communities.

At the launch of his party's campaign in Dublin for seats in the Irish Republic's upcoming General Election, Sinn Fein leader Gerry Adams insisted the DUP was under pressure to deliver devolution.

Mr Adams said: "Over the next fortnight the DUP have a huge decision to make.

"There are no more excuses. They went into this election saying they are ready for government and they got a massive endorsement for this position.!

Mr Adams said Sinn Fein was focussed on securing over the next fortnight the successful return of the Assembly, Executive and all-Ireland institutions.

But he added the two governments needed to be prepared to shut the Assembly down and enhance cross-border co-operation if the DUP was not up to the challenge of sharing power.

The final tally of seats in the new Assembly saw the DUP emerge the largest party with 36 MLAs, up four.

Sinn Fein was the second largest party with 28 representatives, gaining four seats.

Sir Reg Empey's Ulster Unionists suffered a major slump in their vote, losing six seats with 18 members returned and falling behind Mark Durkan's nationalist SDLP in the popular vote.

With ministries in a devolved executive allocated on the basis of party strength, the DUP would be able to claim four government departments, Sinn Fein three, the Ulster Unionists two and the SDLP one.

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