Mike Nesbitt has claimed the Ulster Unionists can emerge as the overall winner in next month's assembly election and usher in a "new era of belief" at Stormont.
The UUP leader was speaking as he launched his party's manifesto yesterday in east Belfast.
Buoyed by the election of two Ulster Unionist MPs in last year's Westminster poll, the former UTV news anchorman said the least he hoped for on May 5 was growth on the 16 MLAs the party returned to Stormont in 2011.
The party, which at the time of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998 was unionism's largest, is fielding a total of 33 candidates.
In the past Mr Nesbitt has made no secret of his desire for the UUP to hold Stormont's education portfolio and he reiterated that hope at the manifesto launch.
If his aspiration becomes a reality, the party has said it will do more to promote integrated education through policies which "lower and remove barriers to greater mixing".
The UUP will also seek to maintain academic selection, but will aim to put a new transfer system in place within two years based on continual assessment of pupils.
"Whilst the independent tests are a professionally organised response to the parental demand for the continuance of academically selective grammar education, what we have now is not what we should want for our children," the manifesto states.
It also advocates fresh numeracy and literacy initiatives alongside extra help for children through a "book buddy" scheme.
On the economy, the UUP is committed to lowering the regional corporation tax rate to 12.5 per cent and addressing other competitive disadvantages.
In regards to health, the manifesto advocates that the executive prioritises hospital waiting lists and boosts GP numbers by 400 over the assembly mandate.
The party would also like to see a 'People's Park' developed to celebrate the centenary of the creation of Northern Ireland in 2021.
Mr Nesbitt said he hoped the project would attract private sponsorship and make "minimal demand on the public purse".
The UUP leader restated his intention to join post-election negotiations on a Stormont programme for government but not to commit to taking a seat at the executive table unless the blueprint is "progressive" and he senses a "collective will" to deliver on its promises.
Mr Nesbitt also suggested his party could top the polls, while accusing the DUP and Sinn Fein of "arrogance" for portraying the battle to secure the first minister's seat as a two-horse race.
He said the UUP was "fighting to win".
"Who is to say that the Ulster Unionists with 33 great candidates and stated policies which are second to none, and a better vision than anybody else on the future of Northern Ireland, can't come out top?" he said.
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What's in the manifesto?
:: Prioritise mental illness including appointment of Mental Health Champion
:: Reduce carbon emissions in line with domestic and international obligations
:: Review cost-effectiveness of Tourism Ireland in promoting Northern Ireland as a destination overseas
:: Prioritise defeating long-term and youth unemployment
:: Deadline of two years to devise new method of school transfer after P7
