MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: A critical vote to keep the 1998 peace agreement on track has narrowly passed in Northern Ireland. CNN's Nic Robertson joins us live from Belfast with details. Hello, Nic.</s>NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Miles, a very, very close vote indeed, 53 percent in favor of that vote, 459 to 403 against. Very much also a test of the leadership of that party, David Trimble. It's the main Protestant party here. What it does now is, it clears the way for that party to go back into the power-sharing government in Northern Ireland with Sinn Fein, the political wing of the IRA. David Trimble had to sell to his party members the fact that he trusted the IRA on their latest commitment, as they have said -- as the IRA have said, to put their weapons completely and verifiably beyond use. He managed to sell that argument to his party today, but with a very, very narrow majority. When he came out and he talked with the press, he talked about just how far that the party had actually stretched to achieve this. What he also said was that he would be looking towards the IRA to keep good on that commitment, to make good on their commitment to disarm, and that is something that his party will be looking to him to ensure that it happens. It has been a very narrow win for him today. His leadership, in fact, has been threatened by this very vote. So a good -- a very significant day for Northern Ireland, and a very, very significant day for David Trimble, as leader of the Ulster Unionist Protestant party here -- Miles.</s>O'BRIEN: CNN's Nic Robertson, live from Belfast. Thanks much.
Protestants in Northern Ireland Vote to Reinstate Power-Sharing Government