Ulster Unionist leader Mr David Trimble has been re-elected at the helm of his Party with no challenge from anti-Belfast Agreement members.
He emerged from the Party meeting renewing his threat to resign on July 1st if the IRA does not move on weapons decommissioning before then.
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Mr Trimble, whose leadership was called into question by significant losses in the Westminster and local Government elections, was unopposed at the start of a round of votes for key Party positions in Belfast's Ulster Hall.
A jubilant Mr Trimble said he expected to remain Ulster Unionist leader by next year's annual general meeting of the council.
He added that it was clear from today's meeting that the party was united in its determination to secure IRA disarmament through his resignation but he stressed the need for British Prime Minister Mr Tony Blair and Northern Ireland Deputy First Minister Seamus Mallon to honour their pledge to get tough on republicans if they did not deliver decommissioning.
"In the absence of any action, not words but action on this issue, I will vacate the office of First Minister," he again stressed.
"My resignation is part of a graduated response. Other parties have the opportunity to save the situation. We cannot be expected to carry the burden all alone.
"I refer in particular what we heard from the Prime Minister and the guarantees we heard from Seamus Mallon.
"Sooner or later they are going to have to live up to their words."
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Mr Jeffrey Donaldson
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Mr Jeffrey Donaldson, the Lagan Valley MP who had been under pressure to challenge Mr Trimble’s leadership,said the onus was now on republicans to deliver on their decommissioning commitments.
He claimed the party was united behind Mr Trimble's strategy.
"I think the party is prepared to go with the strategy of the moment and support David Trimble's commitment to resign as First Minister in protest against the failure of Sinn Féin/IRA to decommission and to bring this issue to a head.
"It has to be brought to a head and we welcome the pressure that is now being applied to Republicans - albeit belatedly by the Irish government and by the SDLP in particular.
"Sinn Féin/IRA need to get the message their bluff has been called, it is time for them to deliver. If they don't, they needn't think they are going to hang around Stormont in ministerial office because we will not allow them to hold office if they don't decommission."
South Antrim MP Mr David Burnside re-emphasised that Ulster Unionists would not tolerate further concessions to nationalists and republicans on policing.
He declared: "That pain, that gain is over. That game is over. We have had enough."
In his speech to delegates at the meeting, he said the UUP needed to learn from the elections that divisions over the Belfast Agreement were costing them badly.
He also insisted the Party's overall performance was not as bad as some people had predicted. "There were undoubted disappointments," he said. "But remember the forecasts: there was going to be a meltdown; we were only going to hold one seat.
And he attacked the Rev Ian Paisley's Democratic Unionists for fighting "a dirty campaign" - mainly to cover the fact that they had no real policies.
"The dirty tricks and personal attacks failed. This Party is and will remain the dominant Unionist Party because it does have a policy and the guts to stick to it.
PA