A labour grouping is contesting the Assembly election with nine candidates, among them some well-known names, such as the author, Mr Sam McAughtry, and Mr David Bleakley, formerly of the Northern Ireland Labour Party.
The group's leader and South Down candidate, Mr Malachi Curran, expressed delight yesterday that an Irish Times poll had placed it ahead of the PUP and the Women's Coalition.
"Two years ago some of us thought it was time to resurrect the Labour Party," he said. "We're independent of both the British Labour Party and Ruairi Quinn's lot."
Those campaigning under the Labour banner include Labour in the Talks and Northern Ireland Forum, Democratic Left, the Northern Ireland Labour Partnership, Labour in Northern Ireland, the Down Labour Party, the Foyle Labour Party and the Newtownabbey Labour Party.
"Labour wants to shift the emphasis of political debate on to issues which vitally affect ordinary families, such as jobs, health, education, fairness in the workplace and the environment," the group said in a statement.
The Workers' Party is running its own campaign, with nine candidates. Launching the party's election broadcast yesterday, its Belfast chairman, Mr John Lowry, said that the election was the most important for 30 years.
"It has the potential of being a new dawn for progressive politics in Northern Ireland," he said. The Green Party opened its campaign yesterday. It is running three candidates, and announced it would also support candidates with a track record on environmental issues, such as Mr Oliver McMullen, who is standing as an Independent Nationalist candidate in North Antrim.
The campaign was introduced by the Green Party TD, Mr Trevor Sargent. "The Green Party is not burdened with the baggage of Northern Ireland's division," he said. "The Northern Ireland Green party in particular has been acting with courage and determination as a peace-broker between antagonistic groups since its foundation in the early 1980s."