The Earth Party ( pt, Partido da Terra, ), previously called The Earth Party Movement (, abbreviated MPT, hence called ''MPT – Partido da Terra''), is a green-conservative political party in Portugal, founded on 12 August 1993. Its main political priorities are the promotion of environmental-friendly policies and the preservation of the national and cultural heritage of Portugal and of the remaining Portuguese-language countries. Between 2005 and 2009, the party had two Deputies in the Assembly of the Republic: Pedro Quartin Graça and Luís Carloto Marques, elected on the lists of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

(PSD), following an agreement with its then leader,

Pedro Santana Lopes Pedro Miguel de Santana Lopes GCC (; born 29 June 1956) is a Portuguese lawyer and politician, who is the current president of the Municipal Chamber of Figueira da Foz. He most notably served as prime minister of Portugal from 2004 to 2005. ...

. The President of the party is Pedro Pimenta, a night watchman, elected in 2020. The party has participated in a number of coalitions with the major centre-right parties in Portugal, namely the PSD and People's Party (CDS–PP). The MPT was a member of the

European People's Party group The European People's Party Group (EPP Group) is a centre-right political group of the European Parliament consisting of deputies (MEPs) from the member parties of the European People's Party (EPP). Sometimes it also includes independent MEP ...

during the eighth term of the European Parliament, having previously been a member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) and an observer member of the

Liberal International Liberal International (LI) is a worldwide organization of liberal political parties - a political international. It was founded in Oxford in 1947 and has become the pre-eminent network for liberal parties, aiming to strengthen liberalism aroun ...

History

2009 European Parliament elections

In April 2009, the party announced in a joint press conference with the leader of the pan-European alliance Libertas.eu

Declan Ganley Declan James Ganley (born 23 July 1968) is an English-born Irish entrepreneur, businessman, and political activist. He was the founder and leader of the Irish branch of the Libertas Party. Primarily a telecommunications entrepreneur, Ganley has ...

that it would run for the 2009 European Parliament election with an open electoral list under the banner of ''Libertas''. While not against European integration, MPT demands more accountability and transparency from the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

, and the pursuit of a referendum on the

Lisbon Treaty The Treaty of Lisbon (initially known as the Reform Treaty) is an international agreement that amends the two treaties which form the constitutional basis of the European Union (EU). The Treaty of Lisbon, which was signed by the EU member sta ...

in Portugal. In the elections, MPT received 24,062 votes (0.67% of the votes).

2009 Legislative elections

For the 2009 Portuguese legislative election, MPT formed a coalition with the Humanist Party on mainland Portugal that received 0.22% of the votes. Including MPT's votes in

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

and Madeira, where they ran a list on their own, they reached 0.28% nationwide. However, the 2009 local elections were a success in terms of the number of people elected, as MPT elected two councilors, 17 municipal assembly members and 47 parish councilor posts.

2011 Elections

In the 2011 Portuguese legislative election, MPT stood under its own open lists throughout Portugal and achieved 0.41% of the national vote, catapulting it from 14th to 8th place overall in comparison to the 2009 Portuguese legislative election. This was largely due to its more professional campaigning – it employed a campaign manager for the first time – and the inclusion in its lists of a number of popular celebrities. In the 2011 Madeira regional election the Party elected one Legislative Assembly member despite a fall in its number of votes of 0.3%.

2014 European Parliament elections

MPT achieved its first major electoral success independent of any coalition, in the

2014 European Parliament election The 2014 European Parliament election was held in the European Union, from 22 to 25 May 2014. It was the 8th parliamentary election since the first direct elections in 1979, and the first in which the European political parties fielded candid ...

, winning 7.14% of the vote and electing two MEPs: the former Chairman of the Portuguese Bar Association António Marinho e Pinto (who subsequently left the party due to personal differences with his fellow MEP) and the lawyer José Inácio Faria. On 21 November 2014, the MPT was admitted as a full member of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE) at the ALDE congress in Lisbon.

2014 Party Congress

MPT held its IX Party Congress on 22 November 2014 in Lisbon, where incumbent president John Rosas Baker announced his intention not to stand for reelection and was replaced by MEP José Inácio Faria.

2015 Legislative elections

The party contested the 2015 legislative election under its own open lists but, in what was widely considered a fiasco, failed to improve on its 2009 Portuguese legislative election result, gaining less than 0.5% of the popular vote and failing to elect any MPs to the Assembly of the Republic.

2018 Financial insolvency

On 21 and 22 October 2018, the MPT had its bank accounts blocked due to a court decision and financial liabilities. As a consequence, the party fell into

insolvency In accounting, insolvency is the state of being unable to pay the debts, by a person or company ( debtor), at maturity; those in a state of insolvency are said to be ''insolvent''. There are two forms: cash-flow insolvency and balance-sheet ...

. The then-party leader Luís Vicente informed the public about this situation on 21 December 2018. * Original press release:
* Google Translation:

2019 Legislative elections

The 2019 legislative elections, which were contested under MPT's own open lists, had a disastrous outcome, with the party losing practically half of its previous votes.

2022 Legislative elections

MPT contested the 2022 legislative elections under its own open lists, ending up losing more than half of the votes previously held for the second consecutive time.

Electoral results

Assembly of the Republic

European Parliament

Municipalities

Parishes

References

External links

MPT
{{Libertas topics, state=autocollapse 1993 establishments in Portugal Conservative parties in Portugal Green conservative parties Green parties in Europe European People's Party Libertas.eu Organisations based in Lisbon Political parties established in 1993 Political parties in Portugal