Ulster voters are deciding who should take forward the Northern Ireland peace process.

The election in Northern Ireland has centred on Sinn Fein and continuing IRA criminality.

The republican party has dominated the campaign, with rivals promoting themselves as the best placed to deal with Sinn Fein and deliver peace.

Sinn Fein president Gerry Adams set the early pace with his call on the IRA to abandon its "armed struggle".

The paramilitary group said it is considering the call, holding out the prospect of disbandment.

Sinn Fein is also calling for a quick resumption of devolution talks once the election is over and a strengthened mandate to take into them.

"It is my view that the recent initiative by Gerry Adams should provide the necessary political space and incentive for all of the parties and the two governments to come to the table and engage in the sort of intensive process required," party spokesman Mitchel McLaughlin said.

"For this to happen, the political parties and more importantly the two governments need to start preparing for such a negotiation process now.

"Sinn Fein are willing and ready to engage, the April 6 initiative is evidence of that. The other parties now also need to start stepping up to the mark."

SDLP

The nationalist SDLP argues that only they that can be trusted.

Writing in the House Magazine, party leader Mark Durkan said: "I am pleased that Gerry Adams... has asked the IRA to accept peace.

"I hope that he means it. And I hope that the IRA delivers soon what they should have delivered long ago.

"Our message in these elections is both simple and true. The only way to force the peace from paramilitaries, and force the pace from unionists, is by voting for a stronger SDLP."

UUP

Meanwhile on the unionist side, David Trimble's UUP has said a new peace conference would be a waste of time.

He said his MPs would put pressure on the government to reform direct rule.

"After the poll on May 5, the government has a duty to act. A defined policy must take the place of strategic drift," he wrote in the magazine.

"The vain hope that another grand talks exercise will see a four-party coalition return lingers in the Northern Ireland Office.

"Frankly, such is the public disenchantment with such exercises – and so low is trust in Gerry Adams' ability or desire to transform the republican movement into an entirely peaceable organisation – that another round of talks at another luxurious location will only dissolve in further acrimony."

"At the very least, we should consolidate the political progress made over the last few years and find ways of making direct rule more accountable," he added.

DUP

The biggest party in Northern Ireland, Ian Paisley's DUP, is arguing that it needs to keep that leading status.

"This election will not just determine the direction of the political process; it will set the direction for the Northern Ireland of the future," Paisley wrote in the House Magazine.

"This election is not a battle between the DUP and the Ulster Unionist Party, nor even between the feuding factions of the UUP, but rather between the DUP and Sinn Fein. It is about who speaks for Ulster.

"Previous election results demonstrate that only the DUP can prevent Sinn Fein/IRA becoming the largest party in Northern Ireland.

"It is vital for unionism and democracy that those who refuse to give up paramilitarism and criminality do not become Northern Ireland's leading political party.

"It is essential that unionism remains at the forefront in representing Northern Ireland. If Sinn Fein/IRA were to emerge as the largest party from a general election, it would be a huge blow to the union."