Greens (Estmere)
Greens Grėnas Les Vèrts | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Co-leader | Sara Hall-Brookes |
| Co-leader | Nathan Coutanche |
| Founded | December 7, 1972 |
| Merger of | Ecology, ANL, SFS |
| Headquarters | Green Building, 79 St. David Street, Morwall |
| Newspaper | Pride & Power |
| Student wing | Green Students |
| Youth wing | Young Ecologists |
| Women's wing | Greens – Womens' Section |
| Membership (2021) |  16,023 |
| Ideology | Green politics Progressivism Pro-Eucleanism Factions: Green liberalism Eco-socialism Ecofeminism |
| Political position | Centre to left-wing |
| Continental affiliation | MVE |
| Colours | Green |
| Federal parties | Green Wealdland Flurian Greens Morwall Greens Kingsport Greens St Roberts and Fleming Greens |
| Chamber of Commons | 40 / 600
|
| Chamber of Peers | 4 / 300
|
| Euclean Parliament | 6 / 116
|
| State legislatures | 40 / 1,500
|
| Website | |
| greens-for-change.es | |
The Greens (Swathish: Grėnas, Flurian: Les Vèrts) is a centre to left-wing green political party in Estmere, which supports the incumbent SDCP minority government in Parliament as per a loose confidence and supply agreement with Prime Minister Zoe Halivar.
Emerging out from the counterculture movements of the 1960s, the Greens were founded in 1972, as a merger of the environmentalist Ecology Party, the anti-nuclear Anti-Nuclear League and the progressive Students for a Free Society. The party embraced green politics as its raison d'etre, but largely operated extra-parliamentarily. This was until the 1982 Shoreham by-election, in which Green candidate Harry Peterson won a surprise victory, in part due to opposition to proposals for nuclear power in the area. Peterson became the first Green MP, but lost his seat to the Reform Party in the subsequent 1984 election, returning the Greens to extra-parliamentary opposition. The party made inroads in the Greater Morwall Council, however, securing representation there in 1989.
The party returned to the Chamber of Commons through the list in the 1999 general election, and the party essentially functioned as crossbenchers to the government of Heidi Reid, supporting the government on certain issues, but opposing it on others. The party withdrew all support for the Reid government in 2005 in opposition to austerity, and secured its second constituency win in the 2007 general election, in which it won the Morwall seat of Tendersea.
The Greens acted in opposition to the Sotirian Democratic Union government which succeeded Reid's, and continued to grow in both vote-share and seat count. The party gained its first mayorality in 2011, with Emily Lillis elected as the Mayor of Portsbourne. After the 2021 election, the party again increased its vote-share and seat count, and entered negotiations with the victorious SDCP to support a progressive government. Along with the Estmerish Section of the Workers' International, Vox Estmere and future.es, the party signed up to a confidence and supply deal in exchange for SDCP support for a number of Green policies.
The Greens have long been considered one of the smaller parties in Estmerish politics, having not provided any post-war Prime Ministers, but it has seen its vote share steadily increasing in recent elections, with pundits suggesting that the party could be on course to overtake Reform. The party has a green platform, as is seen as strongly progressive and pro-Euclean. The party is led by two co-leaders, at least one of whom must be a woman or non-binary. Sara Hall-Brookes and Nathan Coutanche have served as co-leaders since 2015, and are considered to be from the watermelon wing of the party.