Alliance Party election launch:Alliance Party leader David Ford believes his party can bring a substitute to "tribal" politics in the election.
Unveiling the party's 18 candidates yesterday at Belfast Castle, he dismissed talk that his party's vote was under pressure in next month's election.
"People are telling us throughout this campaign they want an alternative. Alliance is that alternative."
Despite losing 2.8 percentage points, almost half, of their first preference vote in the last Assembly election in 2003, the party kept its six seats in Stormont thanks to transfers.
Mr Ford is confident his party can build on better electoral performances in the intervening European, Westminster and local government polls and increase its vote on March 7th.
Referring to the last Assembly election, he said: "In that election we concentrated our resources to ensure we held our six seats because that was the best we could hope, and inevitably our vote went down elsewhere. But we showed we could hold the vote and constituencies that mattered.
"Since then we have had the Westminster election, where we were supposed to lose votes yet put them on, and the council elections, when we were meant to lose seats but we gained them.
"Since I've become leader we have gone through a complete electoral cycle, every one of which has registered success."
Anna Lo, the Alliance candidate for South Belfast, is expected to poll well. Mr Ford said: "Anna represents the increasing diversity of Northern Ireland society. We are showing that we are the only party that is broadly representative of our society, and we have the connections and roots across the community that others simply do not have."
Some high-profile Alliance names are not in the running this time around, with Seamus Close in Lagan Valley and Eileen Bell in North Down stepping down. However, Mr Ford does not believe there will be a loss of personal votes.
"Trevor Lunn [Mr Close's replacement] is mayor of Lisburn at the moment, and clearly brings a personal vote. By the same token, Stephen Farry [Ms Bell's replacement] has been a councillor in North Down since 1993 and was deputy mayor, so will bring in votes that were not necessarily there before."
He also pointed out the importance of transfers. While the main talk has surrounded DUP and Sinn Féin strategies over preference voting, Mr Ford believes his party can benefit.
"In the last Assembly election I got elected because I got transfers from every other candidate," said Mr Ford. "I suspect the same will happen to many Alliance candidates this time because in many cases we are seen as not necessarily first choice, but the acceptable second choice."