The Ulster Unionist manifesto proclaims the Belfast Agreement is good for Northern Ireland and good for the union with Britain.
The party leader, Mr David Trimble, launching the document yesterday, said it had helped to stabilise politics and society and had placed unionism at the centre of debate where once it was marginalised.
Mr Trimble, clearly buoyed by encouraging opinion polls, hit back at the DUP criticising both its election platform and its campaigning style. It was "the biggest electoral fraud ever foisted on the unionist people", he said.
Accompanied by key party loyalists including the party chairman, Mr James Cooper, and former ministers Mr Dermot Nesbitt, Sir Reg Empey and Mr Michael McGimpsey, Mr Trimble listed the benefits of stable devolution at Stormont.
"We should look back at how far society has moved and how far things have moved for unionism.
"A dozen years ago unionism was marginalised politically and now it is at the centre of things. A dozen years ago violence was rampant, now it has diminished greatly," he said. It was more than 15 months since the last sectarian murder, he added.
On the most recent political crisis, Mr Trimble said these were due to "continuing paramilitary activity". "That has to be cured before suspension ends," he said.
Referring to the Hillsborough debacle last month, he admitted: "We didn't get the whole issue cracked. After this election, the first thing on the agenda is to return to the issue of decommissioning and acts of completion in order to get that issue resolved."
He was confident remaining problems could be overcome. "It all depends on how quickly the penny drops with those involved in paramilitarism . . . that they have to move."
The manifesto, he said, set out the UUP agenda for devolution.
Mr Nesbitt, the former environment minister, said devolution had enabled local representatives to deal effectively with educational and health requirements.
The health budget had been increased by £1 billion and a regional cancer centre had been established. Infrastructure projects also needed further injections and he pledged a restored Executive would invest heavily in water and roads, including dual carriageways to Larne, Derry, Coleraine and Newry from Belfast.
Sir Reg Empey said education and skills training were essential to economic and social progress.
Countering Mr Martin McGuinness's decision to scrap the controversial 11-plus school transfer examination, the former economy minister said the UUP would defend grammar schools and academic selection. All temporary classrooms would be replaced within five years he added.
He credited the agreement with helping to create 125,000 jobs since 1998 and the highest rate of growth in the UK. Sir Reg took a sideswipe at the DUP, accusing it of putting such advances at risk.
Mr Michael McGimpsey, a key UUP negotiator in the talks with Sinn Féin, said the political process meant peace, progress, jobs and improvements in the quality of life.
Mr Trimble said a confident, determined and successful Northern Ireland would strengthen the union. He cited voter apathy as a serious threat. "There can be progress and success but it requires you to come out and exercise your franchise."
He accused the DUP of paranoia citing its manifesto which contained 18 mentions of himself and only three of the Rev Ian Paisley. It also had 26 hostile references to Sinn Féin and 79 to the Ulster Unionists. "That gives you an indication of the DUP's priorities and its paranoia. I think the folk in Ulster want better than that."