In the , when the Green Party was part of the
Alliance, Ewen-Street was the Alliance candidate for the
Kaikoura electorate, where he came fourth in the candidate vote. His
list ranking of 52 was far too low to enter Parliament as a
list MP. He first entered Parliament as a list MP in the
1999 election, having been ranked third on the newly independent Green Party's
party list. He was re-elected in the
2002 election. In June 2004, however, he announced that he would be retiring from politics at the next election, saying that the birth of his daughter meant that he wanted to spend more time at home. In August 2006, Ewen-Street joined the
National Party, saying his passion for the environment hasn't changed, but he believes more progress can be made through a major party such as National. ==Personal life==