ARLENE Foster has said she wants to see devolved government restored but her party cannot do it alone.
The DUP leader was yesterday pressed by business leaders over the almost three-year devolution gap during election hustings in Belfast.
She was the final leader of the five main political parties to address the 5 Days, 5 Leaders series organised by the Northern Ireland Chamber of Commerce.
Mrs Foster was optimistic that restoration of the institutions "will happen now".
"I think people have a general view as to where the difficulties lie – I just hope that other issues aren't added to the agenda and that we actually deal with the issues that came up in the last talks," she said, adding that "the gaps are narrow".
She said she wanted to see Stormont working again, but cautioned: "I can't do it on my own."
"The system of government is such that it has to be the largest unionist party and the largest nationalist party, therefore I hope that after this election is out of the way, that we can get going again."
Asked how she might initiate a breakthrough in the political impasse, the former first minister said there was a "renewed optimism about a shared space" and that she hoped Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O'Neill shared that sentiment.
"People say to me, 'Can you work with Michelle O'Neill', of course I can work with Michelle O'Neill, because she has a mandate as deputy first minister, I have a mandate as potential first minister, we have to work together for the good of everyone in society," Mrs Foster said.
"There has been division created in Northern Ireland over the last three years, and I really regret that, because I think what we showed in the 10 years before that, despite all of the problems and difficulties, we were able to work together for the good of everybody."
However, Mr Foster warned "everything isn't going to be rosy" if devolution returns.
"Legacy of the past will provide great challenges for us, I don't want to be a Pollyanna and stand here and say everything is going to be rosy in a couple of weeks, everything is not going to be rosy in a couple of weeks," she said.
"We have very fundamental decisions to take about dealing with the past and about dealing with our future health service – there will be difficult decisions about rationalisation, there will be difficult decisions about what will be priorities in a new executive."
The DUP leader also acknowledged that mistakes had been made in past incarnations of the assembly.
In regards to the outcome of Thursday's election, Mr Foster said she believes there will be opportunity for "significant influence" at Westminster.
Her party's 10 MPs helped prop-up the Tory government in the last parliament and she said they scored "billions of additional investment" through their confidence and supply deal.
"I anticipate there will still be the opportunity for the largest party from Northern Ireland to have significant influence at Westminster after this election too," she said.
