The Ulster Unionist Party seems determined to be the main casualty of the election.
The party is always tempted to open its wounds and air its divisions in a moment of crisis.
Yesterday (Saturday) its leader Tom Elliott compounded the inevitable problems caused after its first preference vote fell to an all time low of 13%.
He used his acceptance speech in Fermanagh and South Tyrone to roar insults at a group of Sinn Féin supporters, calling them "scum" and accusing them of murder.
The SDLP is also under pressure and the TUV's credibility was badly shaken after its leader Jim Allister was elected as its sole MLA without reaching a quota in North Antrim.
However the UUP, the party which ran Northern Ireland for most of its history, faces the most immediate test.
Last night Basil McCrea, who was elected on the first count in Lagan Valley, said he would be talking to his leader over the weekend about his remarks.
Referring to Mr Elliott's unscripted rant, Mr McCrea said: "I will be speaking to Tom over the weekend to find out what is going on and I am sure he will be clarifying his position. I want to hear his explanation."
He added: "We have not had a good election. Certainly we didn't win a seat in East Londonderry and the party will collectively have to address that issue.
"We cannot ignore the fact that the DUP did have a very successful election as indeed did Alliance. We will have to consider that and it will probably be done behind closed doors."
Earlier Basil McCrea had congratulated David McClarty, a deselected UUP candidate in East Londonderry who ran as an independent and defeated the party's official candidate.
Mr McCrea's stance will fuel speculation of a possible realignment within unionism.
David Ford, the Alliance Minister, quickly entered the fray with a bid for liberal UUP members to disown Mr Elliott and join Alliance. Describing the UUP leader's outburst as "despicable", Mr Ford said "his comments will no doubt make even more UUP supporters join Alliance's movement for change".
Objectively the SDLP had a worse election than the UUP. Despite attracting slightly more votes than the Ulster Unionists it is likely to lag behind it in terms of seats. Party planners will be bitterly disappointed that they will not now secure a second executive ministry which had been their stated objective. However the SDLP is generally able to contain its differences and deal with them in house.
On the other hand the UUP is already split into at least two distinct wings and may not hold together under Mr Elliott's leadership. After signing the St Andrew's Agreement in 2006 the DUP has moved steadily to the centre of politics.
This has left the UUP, traditionally a more moderate party, struggling to find a new role for itself. It has suffered a string of defections, some to the DUP and some to Alliance. These look set to continue.
There are also a number of former UUP members, generally from the Liberal wing of the party, who have stood successfully against it as independents.
These include Mr McClarty and Lady Sylvia Hermon the MP for North Down.
By picking a fight with Sinn Féin election workers appears to confirm suspicions of many on the liberal wing of his party that he is trying to position himself to the right of the DUP, perhaps closer to Jim Allister's TUV.
