Sinn Féin leader Mary Lou McDonald has appealed to the DUP to "for goodness sake work together" with her party at Stormont.
Ms McDonald said that "God knows there's plenty of work to be done" as she urged the DUP to end its boycott blocking Northern Ireland's power-sharing institutions.
Speaking in Newry at Sinn Féin's manifesto launch for the upcoming council election, she said the region "cannot stagger on indefinitely with no government".
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Sinn Féin deputy leader Michelle O’Neill said the poll on May 18 was an opportunity to "re-endorse" the outcome of last May’s Assembly election for "politics to work".
Last year Sinn Féin overtook the DUP to become the largest party at Stormont and is aiming to secure the same feat at local government level, standing 162 candidates across the 11 councils.
For more than a year the DUP has been vetoing devolved government in protest against post-Brexit trading arrangements under the Northern Ireland Protocol.
The UK government and European Union signed the Windsor Framework earlier this year in a bid to address issues with the protocol, but the DUP has continued to raise concerns.
Ms McDonald said many believe the DUP is failing to "respect" the outcome of the last election, in which Sinn Féin became entitled to hold Stormont's First Minister post.
She said: "Certainly what we're hearing, and we can all confirm this, is a demand and a huge appetite amongst the public for the DUP to do the right thing.
"People are very clear what the right thing is: The right thing is the Executive working, the right thing is government for all, and the right thing is for Michelle O'Neill to now lead that Executive as First Minister, and to work in partnership with everybody."
She added: "People understandably will have limited patience with a politics that just does not respond to the immediate here and now. The cost-of-living crisis, the fact that people want leadership and need to see politics work.
"So that's the big message from this election to the DUP. Repsect the democratic wishes of the population, and let's for goodness sake work together, because God knows there's plenty of work to be done."
Ms O'Neill said the council election is a chance for the public to endorse positive leadership.
Speaking at the Canal Court Hotel, she said: "I think that for us, this election is an opportunity for people to re-endorse the position which they voted for last May, for the Executive to work, for politics to work, for us all to be around the Executive table together.
“So I think people will, and certainly my experience on the ground, engaging with people going door-to-door in the community, speaking to the local business community, they know this is where we all should be.
"So for me, this election is a huge opportunity again, for the public to re-endorse positive leadership, someone who's determined to try for a better future, someone who's going to fight back against Tory austerity, someone who’s going to work and make politics work."
Ms McDonald added that she was "optimistic" that the DUP would restore the Executive and "the needs and wishes of people in communities across the board will prevail".
She added: "And so anybody who is concerned about that, irrespective of your political stripe, will understand that we cannot stagger on indefinitely with no government and with no Executive.
"That's not a viable or realistic proposition. So there's the challenge for the DUP to respond to the clear wishes of society to have orderly, progressive leadership that delivers for everyone."
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