Ulster Independence Movement

The Ulster Independence Movement (UIM) developed out of the Ulster Independence Committee (UIC) in 1994 as a formal political party. Its leader, Hugh Ross a Presbyterian minister, contested the 1994 European Election where he gained 7,858 first preference votes and saved his deposit. However, the UIM's voting share dropped with the emergence of the Ulster Democratic Party (UDP) and the Progressive Unionist Party (PUP) in the 1996 Forum election. The UIM took part in the 'No' campaign in the 1998 referendum on the Good Friday Agreement arguing that its arrangements institutionalised sectarianism. Only two candidates contested seats in the 1998 Assembly elections. In Janaury 2000 the UIM disbanded itself as a political party and reconsituted itself as a 'ginger group'.