Republican sources said Dominic Og McGlinchey, a former Sinn Fein supporter who opposes endorsing the Police Service of Northern (PSNI), was considering entering the electoral arena.

McGlinchey is from south Derry but one source said he had been asked to stand for West Tyrone on an anti-Agreement and anti-PSNI ticket.

The source said McGlinchey's aunt, Geraldine Dougan, a Sinn Fein Assembly member who has decided not to run for the party again, could be an independent republican candidate in Martin McGuinness's mid-Ulster constituency.

Independent republicans are expected to contest a third of the North's constituencies.

Most are unlikely to be elected but a split republican vote in marginal constituencies could deprive Sinn Fein of vital Assembly seats.

Gerry McGeough, a former Sinn Fein ard comhairle member and IRA gunrunner who was jailed in Germany and the US, is to stand in Fermanagh and South Tyrone. McGeough, who ran Sinn Fein's anti-Nice campaign, said: "I'm actively considering running. Someone needs to stand up to the DUP. The Sinn Fein leadership has shown no backbone.

Ian Paisley has built his career on anti-Catholic and anti-Irish rhetoric. It's beyond me that Sinn Fein wants to put him in power. Paisley needs to apologise to nationalists and both he and Willie McCrea must wear sackcloth and ashes for their antics over the years."

McGeough claimed Sinn Fein were "making embarrassing fools of themselves", giving continuous concessions to unionists and the British.

"This grovelling nonsense must stop, " he said. McGeough holds ultra-conservative views on abortion and gay rights.

The independent republicans' best chance of a seat is in Newry and Armagh, with sitting Assembly member Davy Hyland, who was deselected by Sinn Fein after opposing a change in policing policy.

Hyland said: "I haven't yet made a formal decision but the signs are very positive after the response I've been receiving from people."

Veteran republican Laurence O'Neill, who recently left Sinn Fein, will contest North Antrim.

The dissidents wanted former Belfast Brigade chief Brendan Hughes to run against Gerry Adams. However, Hughes told the Sunday Tribune: "I'm not into standing for elections and my health wouldn't be up to a campaign anyway. But if anyone stands on anti-establishment, antiPSNI, anti-sell out ticket, I'll gladly support and canvass for them." In Foyle, anti-agreement republicans said they were likely to support former civil rights leader Eamonn McCann, who is standing on a socialist ticket.