Sinn Fein chairman Mitchel McLaughlin yesterday called for a renegotiation of the Good Friday agreement to save the peace process from an election challenge by hardline unionists.

Fears that UUP leader David Trimble's supporters will be outnumbered by anti-agreement unionists after the election promoted McLaughlin to propose steps to ensure that the hardliners could not block votes in the Northern Ireland assembly.

He also called for a speeding-up of the process of demilitarisation and criminal justice reform "to ensure that the clock cannot be turned back".

The Guardian publishes a seat-by-seat analysis of the electoral challenges facing the UUP in Northern Ireland.

Tension is rising in the province with the first flashpoint in the marching season, the Easter Monday Orange Order march through Belfast's Catholic Lower Ormeau Road.