The future of Ulster Unionist leader Sir Reg Empey will be considered at a party meeting after the general election left it with no MPs.
It is the first time the UUP has had no representation for more than a century.
Earlier this week sources indicated that Sir Reg may step down during the meeting at a County Antrim hotel.
However, some senior figures have expressed hope he might stay on for at least a few months while the party decides on a much-needed new direction.
In less than 10 years, the party has gone from being the fourth largest party in the Commons to having no seats.
Sir Reg took a big risk to try to stop the decline, forging an electoral pact with David Cameron’s Conservative Party.
However, the only UUP MP remaining after its disastrous 2005 general election performance, Lady Sylvia Hermon, left the party to stand as an independent in protest at its link-up with the Tories.
She retained her North Down seat with a convincing majority.
Sir Reg chose to stand in the South Antrim constituency, which was thought to provide the party’s best chance of making a gain from the Democratic Unionists.
However, he lost out to the DUP’s sitting MP, William McCrea.
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