The Latvian Green Party ( lv, Latvijas Zaļā partija, LZP) is a

green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a combin ...

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or p ...

Latvia Latvia ( or ; lv, Latvija ; ltg, Latveja; liv, Leţmō), officially the Republic of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Republika, links=no, ltg, Latvejas Republika, links=no, liv, Leţmō Vabāmō, links=no), is a country in the Baltic region of ...

. It was founded in 1990. It was a member of the

European Green Party The European Green Party (EGP), also referred to as European Greens, is the European political party that represents national parties from across Europe who share Green values. The European Greens works closely with the Greens–European Free ...

from 2003 until its expulsion in 2019. It is positioned in the

centre Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

and leans towards the

centre-right Centre-right politics lean to the right of the political spectrum, but are closer to the centre. From the 1780s to the 1880s, there was a shift in the Western world of social class structure and the economy, moving away from the nobility and ...

on the political spectrum, FIBS Report: Central Eurasia, 1993, p. 107.Marja Nissinen: ''Latvia's Transition to a Market Economy: Political Determinants of Economic Reform Policy'', London: Palgrave Macmillan 1998, p. 119.
/ref> and it supports socially conservative views. The party held the world's first prime minister affiliated to a green party with Indulis Emsis who in 2004 briefly served as

Prime Minister of Latvia The prime minister of Latvia ( lv, ministru prezidents) is the most powerful member of the Government of Latvia, who presides over the Latvian Cabinet of Ministers. The officeholder is nominated by the president of Latvia, but must be able to obt ...

, and the world's first head of state as party member Raimonds Vējonis served as

President of Latvia The president of Latvia ( lv, Latvijas Valsts prezidents ) is head of state and commander-in-chief of the National Armed Forces of the Republic of Latvia. The term of office is four years. Before 1999, it was three years. The president may be ...

between 2015 and 2019.

History

The

Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia The Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia (Latvian: Latvijas Republikas Augstākā Padome) was the transitional parliament of Latvia from 1990 to 1993, after the restoration of independence. The Supreme Council was elected on 1990 as the Sup ...

elected in 1990 contained seven Green delegates. After the

Constitution of Latvia The Constitution of Latvia ( lv, Satversme) is the fundamental law of the Latvia, Republic of Latvia. Satversme is the oldest Central and Eastern Europe, Eastern or Central European constitution still in force and the sixth oldest still-funct ...

was restored, following the collapse of the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...

, the election of the 5th

Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected by proportional representation, with seats allocated to political parties which gain at least 5% of the popular v ...

(1993-1995) returned one Green deputy,

Anna Seile Anna Seile (27 September 1939 – 20 June 2019) was a Latvian politician, who served as a deputy of the Saeima The Saeima () is the parliament of the Republic of Latvia. It is a unicameral parliament consisting of 100 members who are elected ...

, on the list of the Latvian National Independence Movement (LNNK). In the 6th Saeima (1995-1998), there were four members: Indulis Emsis,

Guntis Eniņš Guntis is a Latvian masculine given name and may refer to: *Guntis Belēvičs (born 1958), Latvian politician *Guntis Džeriņš (born 1985), Latvian ice-hockey player *Guntis Endzels (born 1967), Latvian basketball coach *Guntis Galviņš (born 1 ...

Jānis Kalviņš Jānis is a Latvian masculine given name. The first written use of the name Jānis dates back to 1290. It may refer to: * Jānis Ādamsons (born 1956), Latvian politician * Jānis Akuraters (1876–1937), Latvian poet, writer, playwright and pol ...

and Jānis Rāzna. From 1993 until

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

, the Greens were part of the governing coalition with Indulis Emsis as Minister of State for Environmental Protection. The LZP contested 1995 general election in an electoral list with the LNNK, but lost its parliamentary representation in the 1998 general election, which it contested in alliance with the Labour Party and Christian Democratic Union. For the 2002 parliamentary election, the party formed the Union of Greens and Farmers (ZZS) with the Latvian Farmers' Union. Three members of the Green party were elected: Indulis Emsis, Arvīds Ulme and Leopolds Ozoliņš. The ZZS joined a four-party center-right coalition government and was represented with three ministers, one of them from the Green party, Minister for the Environment Raimonds Vējonis. In February 2004, after the breakdown of the four-party government, Indulis Emsis was appointed to form a new government and became the first

head of government The head of government is the highest or the second-highest official in the executive branch of a sovereign state, a federated state, or a self-governing colony, autonomous region, or other government who often presides over a cabinet, a ...

of a country anywhere in the world from a

Green party A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence. Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation f ...

. His minority government was forced to resign in December of the same year. A new coalition government led by the People’s Party took office, in which the party was again represented as part of the ZZS. For the 2006 parliamentary election, won four seats as part of the ZZS. The party remained part of the centre-right coalition government along with the People’s Party,

Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way Latvia's First Party/Latvian Way ( lv, Latvijas Pirmā partija/Latvijas Ceļš, LPP/LC) was a political party in Latvia created from the merger of the Christian-democratic Latvia's First Party (LPP), the liberal Latvian Way (LC) and the regional ...

, and For Fatherland and Freedom. Party chairman and former prime minister Indulis Emsis became

Speaker of the Saeima The Speaker of the Saeima ( lv, Saeimas priekšsēdētājs; lit. "Chairperson of the Saeima") is the presiding officer of the Parliament of Latvia, the Saeima. If the President of Latvia resigns from office, dies or is removed from office befo ...

from November 2006 until September 2007. Leading politicians of the party have often supported

nationalist Nationalism is an idea and movement that holds that the nation should be congruent with the state. As a movement, nationalism tends to promote the interests of a particular nation (as in a group of people), Smith, Anthony. ''Nationalism: Th ...

and socially conservative views, leading to its expulsion from the

on 10 November 2019. By 2022, however, ZZS was emroiled in internal turmoil, with the Green Party announcing that it sees no way of further cooperation in the framework of ZZS with For Latvia and Ventspils, still led by oligarch

Aivars Lembergs Aivars Lembergs (born September 26, 1953) is a Latvian politician, oligarch, and convicted money launderer who was the mayor of Ventspils from 1988 to 2021, a mandate from which he has been suspended since 2008. In February 2021, Lembergs was fo ...

, and ultimately on 11 June 2022 it voted to leave the alliance, later joined by the

Liepāja Party The Liepāja Party ( lv, Liepājas Partija) is a localist political party in Latvia. It operates in the city of Liepāja, where its chairman, Uldis Sesks, was mayor from 1997 to 2018. The party has an agreement with the Union of Greens and Far ...

. In May 2022 LZS formed a united list for the 2022 Saeima elections together with the

Latvian Association of Regions The Latvian Association of Regions or Latvian Regional Alliance ( lv, Latvijas Reģionu apvienība, LRA) is a centrist political party in Latvia. It was founded as an alliance on 13 March 2014 and is headed by former Unity MP Edvards Smiltēns ...

, the

and an upcoming political NGO led by

Liepāja Liepāja (; liv, Līepõ; see other names) is a state city in western Latvia, located on the Baltic Sea. It is the largest-city in the Kurzeme Region and the third-largest city in the country after Riga and Daugavpils. It is an important ice-f ...

construction contractor

Uldis Pīlēns Uldis Pīlēns (born 2 October 1956) is a Latvian architect, businessman and politician. Biography He was born on 2 October 1956 in Liepāja. He studied at the 5th secondary school in Liepāja, in 1974 he started as a judge at the Faculty of A ...

, the United List.

Electoral results

Legislative elections

}

Chairpersons

Three co-chairpersons share the leadership position at any one time. Former chairpersons of the Latvian Green Party include: * Oļegs Batarevskis (1990–1997) * Valts Vilnītis (1990–1991) * Juris Zvirgzds (1990–1995) * Gunārs Lākutis (1991–1993) * Pēteris Jansons (1993–1994) *

(1994–1995) * Indulis Emsis (from 1995) * Rūta Bendere (1995–1996) * Askolds Kļaviņš (1996–2001) * Valdis Felsbergs (1997–2003) * Viesturs Silenieks (from 2001) * Raimonds Vējonis (from 2003) , chairpersons are Viesturs Silenieks and Raimonds Vējonis.

References

External links