Africa Some national Green parties began forming in Africa in the 1980s and 1990s, but they often struggled to gain influence.
Wangari Maathai was perhaps the most prominent and successful member of a Green party in Africa: after founding the
Green Belt Movement and the
Mazingira Green Party of Kenya, she was elected to the Kenyan Parliament in 2002, became an assistant minister for Environmental and Natural Resources, and won the
Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Other African Green parties that have achieved parliamentary representation include
Les Verts Fraternels of
Mauritius, and
Frank Habineza's
Democratic Green Party of Rwanda. In
Senegal, Green party leader
Haïdar el Ali was appointed Minister for Ecology in 2012.
Asia and Oceania Australia, Fiji, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu Green parties have achieved national or state parliamentary representation in
New Zealand,
Australia and
Vanuatu. In New Zealand the
Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand currently holds 15 seats in the
New Zealand House of Representatives after the
2023 general election. While the
Australian Greens hold 10 seats in the
Australian Senate and a single seat in the
Australian House of Representatives following the
2025 Australian federal election. Since
2004, they have received more votes than any other third party in every federal election. They also have representation in the upper and lower houses of
state parliaments of five states and in the unicameral chamber of one territory. Greens also hold representative positions in local government across New Zealand and Australia (where a number of local government authorities are controlled by Green councillors). The Greens took the seat of Melbourne from the centre-left
Australian Labor Party (ALP) in 2010 with candidate
Adam Bandt. This was the first time the Greens have won a Lower House seat at a general election (although they have previously won two seats at by-elections).
Proportional representation in the Australian Senate and in New Zealand has strengthened the position of the Australian Greens and the Green Party of New Zealand and enabled them to participate directly in legislatures and policy-making committees. In countries following British-style '
first past the post' electoral rules, Green parties face barriers to gaining federal or provincial/regional/state seats. The
Australian Labor Party's practice of allocating a portion of ALP
ticket votes to Australian Greens has helped bring AG candidates into parliament. During the 2025 election,
How-to-vote cards from Labor tended to prefer the Greens over the centre-right
Liberal-National Coalition during the 2025 election in the House of Representatives in 116 out of 150 seats. In the
2008 ACT election in Australia, the Greens won 15.6% of the vote, winning 4 out of 17 seats. Shane Rattenbury was elected the speaker of the assembly, the first time a Green party member had held such a position in any parliament or assembly in Australia. However, they retained only one seat at the
2012 election in the same territory. The
Green Confederation (
Confédération Verte) in
Vanuatu won 3 out of 52 seats in the
2012 Vanuatuan general election in October 2012. Its most prominent member is
Moana Carcasses Kalosil, who became
prime minister in March 2013. Carcasses, a
Green liberal, does not lead a Green government, but a broad coalition government in which he is the only Green minister. There is a
Papua New Guinea Greens Party, but it does not have any members in Parliament. There was briefly a
Green Party in Fiji from 2008 to 2013; as Parliament was suspended by the military regime during this time, the party was not able to take part in any election before all parties were deregistered in 2013.
Lebanon The
Green Party of Lebanon was founded in 2008 as a secular party. Its first president was Philippe Skaff, CEO of Grey Advertising. The party debuted with the May 2010 municipal elections. In 2011, the party became the first political party in
Lebanon to elect a female leader when Nada Zaarour was elected its president.
Israel Many attempts to establish a green party were made. For example,
the Greens were established in 1997. In the
1999 Knesset elections the party received 0.4% of the vote, failing to win a seat. They received the same share of the vote in the
2003 elections.
Pakistan The
Pakistan Green Party was founded in 2002.
Taiwan The
Green Party Taiwan was founded in 1996. It is a small party which have often associated with
Democratic Progressive Party, a major political party in Taiwan.
Europe Belgian and German roots The first green parties in Europe were founded in the late 1970s, following the rise of
environmental awareness and the development of
new social movements. Green parties in Belgium first made a breakthrough. Belgium had Green members of parliament elected first in the 1970s, and with seats on the local council, held the balance of power in the city of Liege, so were the first to go into coalition with the ruling party on that council. In 1979 political campaigns and dissident groups feeling underrepresented in west German politics formed a coalition to contest the 1979 elections to the European Parliament. Although they did not win any seats, the groups in this association formally agreed to become a party and won a breakthrough in the German national elections of 1983. They were not the first Green Party in Europe to have members elected nationally but the impression was created that they had been, because they attracted the most media attention. This was partly due to their charismatic leader
Petra Kelly, a German who was of interest to the American media because she had an American step-father. Since its foundation in 1980 and merger with
Alliance 90 after the German reunification, Kelly's party, now named
Alliance '90/The Greens, has become one of Europe's most important Green parties. It played an important role in the formation of national-level Green parties in other countries
such as Spain as well. The forerunner of the Green Party in the
United Kingdom was the
PEOPLE Party, formed in
Coventry in 1972. It changed its name to the Ecology Party in 1973 and the Green Party in 1985.
1984–1989: A new political force In 1984 Greens agreed a common platform for the European Parliament Elections and the first Green Members of the European Parliament were elected then. Germany, a stronghold of the Green movement, elected seven MEPs; two more came from Belgium and two from the Netherlands. As those eleven MEPs did not entitle the Greens to form a parliamentary group on their own, they concluded an alliance with MEPs from Italy, Denmark, and regionalists from Flanders and Ireland to form the GRAEL (Green Alternative European Link) group, also known as the
Rainbow Group. Politically they engaged in the fight against environmental pollution, nuclear energy (1986 saw the Chernobyl disaster), the promotion of animal protection and the campaign against the demolition of Brussels by speculation fuelled by the presence of the European institutions.
Since the 1990s of the
Latvian Green Party became
Prime Minister of Latvia in 2004, and the world's first green
head of government. After years of co-operation between the national Green parties, they formed a pan-European alliance that unites most European Green parties. The Greens are a party within the European parliament with 46 seats, as of June 2009. It has a long-standing alliance with the
European Free Alliance (EFA), an alliance of "stateless nations", such as the Welsh nationalist
Plaid Cymru and
Scottish National Party. Together European Green Party/EFA have 58 seats and they are the fourth largest party in the European Parliament. While on many issues European Greens practice the same policies, one issue divides European Green parties: the European Union. Some Green parties, like the Dutch
GreenLeft,
the Green Party of England and Wales, the
Swiss Green Party, the
Irish Green Party and the German
Alliance '90/The Greens, are
pro-European while some, like the Green party in
Sweden, are moderately
eurosceptic. Some Green parties have been part of governing coalitions. The first one was the Finnish
Green League that entered government in 1995. The Italian
Federation of the Greens, the
French Greens, the German Alliance '90/The Greens and both Belgian Green parties, the French-speaking
Ecolo and the Dutch-speaking
Agalev were part of government during the late 1990s. Most successful was the
Latvian Green Party, who supplied the
Prime Minister of Latvia in 2004. The Swedish
Green Party was a long-term supporter of the social-democratic minority government until the election 2006 when the social-democratic party lost. The Irish
Green Party is currently
in government, having entered a coalition with
Fianna Fáil and
Fine Gael in June 2020, with three cabinet positions. It was previously in a
coalition government with Fianna Fáil from
2007 until January 2011 when the party withdrew their support for the ruling coalition. In Scandinavia, left-wing socialist parties have formed the
Nordic Green Left Alliance. These parties have the same ideals as European Greens. However, they do not cooperate with the
Global Greens or European Greens, but instead form a combined parliamentary group with the
Party of the European Left, which unites communists and post-communists. There is one exception, in 2004 the MEP for Danish
Socialist People's Party has left the Nordic Green Left parliamentary group and has joined the Green parliamentary group in the European parliament. The Socialist People's Party is currently an observer at the
European Green Party and the Global Greens. Outside of Scandinavia, in 2004,
Latvia became the first country in the world to have a Green politician become Head of Government, but in 2006 the Green Party received only 16.71 percent of the vote. In the
Estonia 2007 parliamentary elections, the
Estonian Greens won 7.1 percent of the vote, and a mandate for six seats in the country's parliament, the
Riigikogu. Other significant electoral results for European green parties include Germany's
Alliance '90/The Greens in the
2002 federal election and France's
Europe Ecology – The Greens in the
2012 legislative election, in which they both won more seats than any other
third party. was the UK's first green politician elected under the
first-past-the-post system. In some countries Greens have found it difficult to win any representation in the national parliament. Three reasons can be found for this. It includes countries with a first past the post electoral system, such as the United Kingdom. However, despite the
first past the post system in the United Kingdom, the
Green Party of England and Wales won their first seat in the
House of Commons when
Caroline Lucas won the seat of
Brighton Pavilion in 2010. In July 2024, after a targeted campaign, 4 Green MPs were elected in Bristol Central, Waveney Valley, North Herefordshire and Brighton Pavilion. In February 2026,
Hannah Spencer was
elected in Gorton & Denton, becoming the Green Party's fifth MP. The
Scottish Greens have had success in the devolved
Scottish Parliament previously signing a (now ended) deal to enter a governing coalition, whilst the
Green Party Northern Ireland has had success in the devolved
Northern Ireland Assembly and
local elections where the first-past-the-post system is not used. In countries where a party with similar ideals is stronger, such as
Norway and Denmark, Green parties tend to perform worse. In some
Eastern European countries, like
Romania, Green parties are still in the process of formation and have therefore not gained enough support. In
Poland the Green Party, registered in 2004, won their first three seats in the Sejm in 2019. The
Green Party of Bulgaria was founded in Sofia in 1989 by
Aleksandar Karakachanov. Green Movement (ZD) was a member of an anti-corruption coalition -
Democratic Bulgaria (DB).
Ecoglasnost is a member of the
BSP for Bulgaria coalition. For the elections in 2022, the Party of the Greens (Партия на зелените, ПнЗ, PnZ) joined the
Bulgarian Rise coalition. The
European Green Party has worked to support weak Green parties in European countries. Until recently, they were giving support to Green parties in the Mediterranean countries. These Green parties are now making electoral gains, e.g. in Spain,
Greece and
Republic of Cyprus, or getting organized to do so, e.g. in
Malta. Therefore, the EGP is now turning its attention to Eastern Europe – all these countries have Green parties, but in materially poor Eastern Europe the success of Green Parties is patchy except for Hungary, where the local Green party,
Politics Can Be Different (LMP), has been elected to parliament and many city councils. In
2021 Croatian local elections We can! party became the largest political party in the
Zagreb Assembly, winning 23 seats in total. Their mayoral candidate
Tomislav Tomašević won a landslide victory on 31 May.
Germany As mentioned above, the German green party holds strong influence in terms of green politics in Europe. The German green party: Alliance 90/The Greens (
Bündnis 90/Die Grünen) was founded in 1993 after the West German green party (Die Grünen, formed in 1980) and the East German green party (Bündnis 90, formed in 1990) joined after the
reunification of Germany. in 1998, Alliance 90/The Greens joined a coalition government with the
SPD, forming a
Red-Green alliance that would last until 2005. In order to agree to the coalition, Alliance 90/The Greens had 3 priorities: to reduce unemployment, close nuclear-power stations/Germany to not rely on nuclear power, and for citizenship laws to be reformed.
Turkey Greens and the Left Party of the Future is a left-libertarian and green party in Turkey. It was founded on 25 November 2012 as a merger of the Greens Party and the Equality and Democracy Party. Prominent members include Murat Belge, left-liberal political author and columnist for
Taraf; Kutluğ Ataman, filmmaker and contemporary artist; and Ufuk Uras, former Istanbul deputy and president of the Freedom and Solidarity Party. The party is one of the participants in the Peoples' Democratic Congress, a political initiative instrumental in founding the Peoples' Democratic Party in 2012. The Greens, along with feminists, left YSGP en masse in 2016, citing its lack of democratic decision making practices. They and a new generation of activists reestablished the
Green Party (Yeşiller) in 2020.
North America As of the
41st general election in Canada, held on May 2, 2011, there was only one federally elected member of the
Green Party of Canada in the
House of Commons of Canada, its leader
Elizabeth May. However, at the dissolution of the
41st Parliament on August 2, 2015, the
Green Party of Canada held two seats in the House of Commons, the second seat belonging to formerly Independent MP
Bruce Hyer who was elected to the House of Commons as a member of the
NDP in 2011. Only May won
re-election to the
42nd parliament.
Mike Morrice was elected to the 43rd parliament, returning Greens to two seats. There remains no federal representation by the
Green Party of the United States in the U.S. Congress. Accordingly, in these countries, Green parties focus on
electoral reform. In Mexico, however, the
Partido Verde Ecologista, often abbreviated as PVEM, has 17
deputies and four
senators in
Congress as a result of the 2006 elections. Nevertheless, some of its political practices such as plead in favor of the death penalty in Mexico, led to the
European Green Party's withdrawal of recognition of the PVEM as a legitimate green party.
Canada The first Green parties in Canada (both federal and provincial) were founded in 1983. The strongest provincial Green parties are the
Green Party of British Columbia, the
Green Party of Ontario, the
Green Party of New Brunswick, and the
Green Party of Prince Edward Island which was elected the
Official Opposition in the 2019 election. The first ever BC Green MLA was elected in 2013, and in
2017 they helped the minority
NDP form government. In 2014 a Green MLA was elected to the New Brunswick legislature, in 2015 a Green MLA was elected to the Prince Edward Island Legislature, and in 2018
Mike Schreiner became the first Green MPP elected to the Ontario provincial legislature. Federally, the
Green Party of Canada received 6.49% of the popular vote and a record three seats in Parliament during the
2019 federal election, breaking ground in
Atlantic Canada with the election of
Jenica Atwin as the first federal Green from outside of
British Columbia. This is up from one seat (
later two) and 3.91% won in the
2015 federal election. Although
Elizabeth May (the leader of the GPC from 2006 to 2019) was the first elected Member of Parliament, the first seat was gained in the
House of Commons on August 30, 2008, when sitting Independent MP
Blair Wilson joined the party. As of September 2020, May continues to sit as a Member of Parliament for
Saanich-Gulf Islands and has exerted a considerable amount of legislative influence on a number of issues ranging from denying unanimous consent for military intervention in Libya, playing a central role in exposing changes to environmental legislation hidden in the omnibus Budget Bill C-38, to introducing a
private member's bill to develop a national strategy on
Lyme disease.
Mike Morrice joined May in Parliament in 2021 representing
Kitchener Centre and has been active on disability issues. In the
2008 Vancouver municipal election, Stuart Mackinnon, a member of the Vancouver Green Party, was elected to the Vancouver Parks Board. Since that time former
Green Party of British Columbia leader, and deputy-leader of the federal Green party,
Adriane Carr won the Greens' first seat on Vancouver City Council, in 2011 municipal elections.
United States In the United States, Greens first ran for public office in 1985. Since then, the
Green Party of the United States has claimed electoral victories at the municipal, county and
state levels. The first U.S. Greens to be elected were
David Conley and Frank Koehn in Wisconsin 1986. Each was elected to a position on the County Board of Supervisors in Douglas and Bayfield counties respectively.
Keiko Bonk was first elected in 1992 in Hawaii County, becoming Official Chairwoman in 1995. The first Green Party mayor was Kelly Weaverling, elected in
Cordova, AK in 1991. As of April 2018, 156 Greens held elective office across the US in 19 states. The states with the largest numbers of Green elected officials are California (68), Connecticut (15), and Pennsylvania (15). Titles of offices held include: Alderman, Auditor, Board of Appeals, Board of Finance, Board of Selectmen, Borough Council, Budget Committee, Circuit Court Judge, City Council, Common Council, Community College District Board of Trustees, Community Service Board, Conservation Congress, Constable, County Board of Supervisors, County Supervisor, Fire Commission, Fire District Board, Inspector of Elections, Judge of Elections, Mayor, Neighborhood Council Board, Park District, Parks and Recreation District Board, Library Board, Planning Board, Public Housing Authority Resident Advisory Board, Public Service District, Rent Stabilization Board, Sanitary District Board, School Board, Soil and Water Conservation Board, State Representative, Town Council, Transit District Board, Village Trustee, Water District Board, and Zoning Board of Appeals. The first US Green elected to a state legislature was
Audie Bock in 1999, to the
California State Assembly, followed by
John Eder to the
Maine House of Representatives in 2002 and 2004 and
Richard Carroll to the
Arkansas House of Representatives in 2008. While in office in 2003 in the
New Jersey General Assembly, incumbent
Matt Ahearn made a
party switch to Green for the remainder of his term. The Green Party has contested seven presidential elections: in 1996 and 2000 with
Ralph Nader for president and
Winona LaDuke as vice president, in 2004 with
David Cobb for president and
Pat LaMarche for vice president, and in 2008 with
Cynthia McKinney for president and
Rosa Clemente for vice president. In 2000, Nader received more votes for president than any Green Party candidate before or since.
Jill Stein ran for president on the Green ticket in 2012, 2016 and 2024; the vice-presidential candidates were
Cheri Honkala in 2012,
Ajamu Baraka in 2016 and
Butch Ware in 2024. Stein, who received over one million votes in the 2016 race, led unsuccessful attempts toward
2016 election recounts in three states: Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin. In 2020,
Howie Hawkins, a founder of the Green Party, was the party's presidential nominee.
South America Brazil The Brazilian
Green Party was constituted after the military dictatorship period and, like other Green Parties around the world, is committed to establishing a set of policies on ensuring social-equity and sustainable development. One of the party's founding members was the journalist and former anti-dictatorship revolutionary Fernando Gabeira, Alfredo Sirkis and Carlos Minc. Among the main items on the Green Party's agenda are federalism, environmentalism, human rights, a form of direct democracy, parliamentarism, welfare, civil liberties, pacifism and marijuana legalization under specific conditions. Green Party's candidate
Marina Silva won 19.33% of the vote in the first round of the
2010 Brazilian presidential election (more than any other third party), taking enough votes from
Dilma Rousseff of the incumbent
PT to prevent her from achieving the majority of the vote needed to avoid a second round. Success in the legislature amounted to winning 2 more seats for a total of 15 in the Chamber of Deputies and the loss of their only senate seat. Marina Silva left the party the following year. In the
2014 presidential election the Green Party's candidate
Eduardo Jorge received 0,61% of the vote. He garnered attention for campaigning on a progressive platform supporting policies such as cannabis legalization and the decriminalization of abortion. Because of his perceived eccentricity and spontaneity while participating in the televised debates, Jorge became the subject of several memes on the internet. The party elected 6 federal deputies and 1 senator. In 2016, the Greens in Congress voted in favour of the
impeachment of Dilma Rousseff. The party later went on to support president Michel Temer who succeeded her. For the
2018 presidential election the party formed the coalition
United to transform Brazil with the
Sustainability Network (REDE), in support of the candidacy of Marina Silva in her third run for the presidency. Eduardo Jorge was chosen as her running mate. Despite faring well in the initial polls, Silva ultimately received 1% of the vote. The party elected 4 federal deputies.
Colombia In the 1990s, the
Oxygen Green Party was created under the leadership of
Ingrid Betancourt but dissolved after her infamous kidnapping. Later, the Visionaries Party was created by
Antanas Mockus whose ideals earned him the Bogotá Mayoral Office twice. In the
2010 Colombian presidential election a green party has been created under the name
Colombian Green Party, with former
Bogotá mayor Antanas Mockus being the leader. ==Green parties in government==