Green Party (Czech Republic)

Infobox Czech_Political_Party
party_name = Green Party
party_name_czech = Strana zelených
colour_html = #009900
party_
leader = Martin Bursík
foundation = 1989
ideology = Green, Centrism, Social Liberalism
"Social:" Liberal/Green
"Fiscal:" Centre, Centre-right
international = Global Greens
european = European Green Party
europarl = Greens / EFA
colours = Green
headquarters = Ostrovní 7, Prague
website = [http://www.zeleni.cz/ www.zeleni.cz] The Green Party ("Strana zelených" in Czech) is a political party in the Czech Republic.

The party was founded in February 1990 but for a long time it struggled to obtain significant influence in Czech politics. In the 2002 legislative elections the party received 2.4% of the vote. Internal conflicts and constant bickering were covered by the media much more than party's political aims but changes in the policy in the party were made after the general party congress in September 2005. The new chairman, former environment minister Martin Bursík, focuses much more on the political aims and their propagation in media. Part of the intra-party opposition left the party and they tried to found a new political party.

The party holds a single seat (Jaromír Štětina) in the Senate (upper house of the Parliament of the Czech Republic). In the 2006 legislative elections the party received 6.3% of the vote and thus won six seats in the lower house - the Chamber of Deputies:
* Central Bohemian Region: Olga Zubová
* Moravian-Silesian Region: Věra Jakubková
* Prague: Martin Bursík and Kateřina Jacques
* South Moravian Region: Ondřej Liška
* Ústí nad Labem Region: Přemysl Rabas

One week before the elections, several left-oriented members were purged, after calling for voters to vote for the Social Democrats instead of the Greens. This included Eva Holubová, number two in Moravian-Silesian Region.

The Green Party is part of the governing coalition, together with the Civic Democrats (ODS) and the Christian Democrats (KDU–ČSL) since January 2007. For more details see Mirek Topolánek's Second Cabinet.

Election results

*1990 Czech National Council: 4,1% – no seat
*1992 Czech National Council: as part of Liberal–social movement 6.5%
*1996 Senate: no seat
*1998 Chamber of Deputies: 1.1% – no seat
*1998 Senate: no seat
*2000 Senate: no seat
*2002 Chamber of Deputies: 2.4% – no seat
*2002 Senate: no seat
*2004 Senate: 1 seat (Jaromír Štětina)
*2004 European Parliament: 3.2% – no seat
*2006 Chamber of Deputies: 6.3% – 6 seats
*2006 Senate: no seat

See also

*Green party
*Green politics
*List of environmental organizations

External links

* [http://www.europeangreens.org/peopleandparties/members/czechrepublic.html Basic information about the party]
* [http://www.zeleni.cz/ Party website] (in Czech)