# Latvian Green Party

The Latvian Green Party (Latvian: Latvijas Zaļā partija, LZP) is a green conservative political party in Latvia.
Founded in 1990, the party was a member of the European Green Party from 2003 until its expulsion in 2019. It is positioned in the centre-right of the political spectrum and supports socially conservative and green policies. The party is notable for producing the world's first green head of government when Indulis Emsis briefly served as Prime Minister of Latvia in 2004 and the first green head of state when Raimonds Vējonis served as President of Latvia from 2015 to 2019.

## History

In April 1989, representatives from Green movements in multiple Baltic countries sent a letter to the Paris Green Congress citing the USSR as the reason for ecological ruin in the region. One of the representatives was Arvīds Ulme, a member of the Latvian Environmental Protection Club, who would go on to form the Latvian Green Party alongside Indulis Emsis the following year. The party was registered on 13 January 1990, becoming the first official political party in Latvia four months before it officially declared its independence from the Soviet Union.
The Supreme Council of the Republic of Latvia elected in 1990 contained seven Green delegates. After the Constitution of Latvia was restored, following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the election of the 5th Saeima (1993-1995) returned one Green deputy, Anna Seile, on the list of the Latvian National Independence Movement (LNNK). In the 6th Saeima (1995-1998), there were four members: Indulis Emsis, Guntis Eniņš, Jānis Kalviņš and Jānis Rāzna.
From 1993 until 1998, the Greens were part of the governing coalition with Indulis Emsis as Minister of State for Environmental Protection. The LZP contested the 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 Workers' 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 of a country anywhere in the world from a Green party. 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, the party 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, and For Fatherland and Freedom. Party chairman and former prime minister Indulis Emsis became Speaker of the Saeima from November 2006 until September 2007, when he resigned amid a criminal corruption investigation.
In 2015, Raimonds Vējonis was elected President of Latvia with the support of 55 out of 100 members of the Saeima, becoming the first ever head of state in Europe from a green party. On 7 May 2019, despite support from his party and coalition, Vējonis announced he would not seek re-election and he was succeeded by longtime judge of the European Court of Justice Egils Levits, who Vējonis had defeated in the 2015 election.
Leading politicians of the party have often supported nationalist and socially conservative views, leading to its expulsion from the European Green Party on 10 November 2019.
By 2022, however, ZZS was embroiled 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. Ultimately, it voted to leave the alliance on 11 June 2022; they were later joined by the Liepāja Party. In May 2022, LZP formed a political alliance for the 2022 Saeima elections together with the Latvian Association of Regions, the Liepāja Party and the "United List of Latvia" NGO led by Liepāja construction contractor Uldis Pīlēns, the United List.
The United List won 15 seats in the 2022 election and joined the New Unity and National Alliance coalition as part of the second Krišjānis Kariņš government. On 14 August 2023, Kariņš resigned as prime minister after his coalition fell apart when the National Alliance, a national-conservative party, refused to allow the Union of Greens and Farmers and The Progressives, the only major left-wing party in Latvia, to join the coalition. Since then, the United List has been part of the opposition to the Evika Siliņa government.

## Ideology

Unlike most green parties in Europe, the Latvian Green Party holds socially conservative views, variously campaigning on right-wing populism, xenophobia, and homophobia. In 2003, party co-founder Arvīds Ulme co-authored a public letter in support of Aivars Garda, leader of the neo-fascist Latvian National Front, after he was charged for his homophobic rhetoric. Since its expulsion from the European Green Party in 2019, the Latvian Greens and its United List coalition partners have been associated with the soft Eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists Group.
The party platform states that their environmental goals are centered on sustainable development and they are aligned with Agenda 21.

## Election results
### Legislative elections

| Election | Party leader | Performance | Performance | Performance | Performance | Performance | Rank | Government |
| Election | Party leader | Votes | % | ± pp | Seats | +/– | Rank | Government |
| 1993 | Oļegs Batarevskis | 149,347 | 13.35 (LNNK) | New | 1 / 100 | New | 2nd | Coalition |
| 1995 | Oļegs Batarevskis | 60,352 | 6.35 (NKP-ZP) | 7.00 | 4 / 100 | 3 | 7th | Coalition |
| 1998 | Valdis Felsbergs | 22,018 | 2.30 (DP-LKDS-ZP) | 4.05 | 0 / 100 | 4 | 8th | Extra-parliamentary |
| 2002 | Viesturs Sileniekss | 93,759 | 9.47 (ZZS) | 7.17 | 5 / 100 | 5 | 5th | Coalition |
| 2006 | Raimonds Vējonis | 151,595 | 16.81 (ZZS) | 7.34 | 4 / 100 | 1 | 2nd | Coalition |
| 2010 | Raimonds Vējonis | 190,025 | 20.11 (ZZS) | 3.30 | 4 / 100 | 0 | 3rd | Coalition |
| 2011 | Raimonds Vējonis | 111,957 | 12.33 (ZZS) | 7.78 | 4 / 100 | 0 | 5th | Opposition |
| 2014 | Edgars Tavars | 178,210 | 19.66 (ZZS) | 7.33 | 4 / 100 | 0 | 3rd | Coalition |
| 2018 | Edgars Tavars | 83,675 | 9.97 (ZZS) | 9.69 | 1 / 100 | 3 | 6th | Opposition |
| 2022 | Edgars Tavars | 100,631 | 11.14 (AS) | 1.17 | 4 / 100 | 3 | 3rd | Coalition (2022-2023) |
| 2022 | Edgars Tavars | 100,631 | 11.14 (AS) | 1.17 | 4 / 100 | 3 | 3rd | Opposition (2023-) |
* ↑ LNNK list won 15 seats - 1 went to LZP
* ↑ NKP-ZP list won 8 seats - 4 to NKP - 4 to ZP
* ↑ DP-LKDS-ZP list won 0 seats
* ↑ ZZS list won 12 seats - 7 to LZS - 5 to LZP
* ↑ ZZS list won 18 seats - 12 to LZS - 4 to LZP - 2 to LuV
* ↑ ZZS list won 22 seats - 13 to LZS - 4 to LZP - 3 to LuV - 2 to LP
* ↑ ZZS list won 13 seats - 5 to LZS - 4 to LZP - 2 to LuV - 1 to LP
* ↑ ZZS list won 21 seats - 11 to LZS - 4 to LZP - 3 to LuV - 3 to LP
* ↑ ZZS list won 11 seats - 5 to LZS - 1 to LZP - 2 to LuV - 3 to LP
* ↑ AS list won 15 seats - 7 to LRA - 4 to LZP - 1 to LP - 3 independents

### European Parliament elections

| Election | List leader | Votes | % | Seats | +/– | EP Group |
| 2014 | Andris Bērziņš | 36,637 | 8.32 (#4) | 0 / 8 | New | – |
| 2019 | Dana Reizniece-Ozola | 25,252 | 5.37 (#6) | 0 / 8 | 0 | – |
| 2024 | Reinis Pozņaks | 42,551 | 8.27 (#4) | 0 / 9 | 0 | – |
* ↑ The ZZS list won 1 seat, that went to LZS
* ↑ The ZZS list didn't win any seat
* ↑ The AS list won 1 seat, that went to an independent

## 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)
* Jānis Kalviņš (1994–1995)
* Indulis Emsis (from 1995)
* Rūta Bendere (1995–1996)
* Askolds Kļaviņš (1996–2001)
* Valdis Felsbergs (1997–2003)
* Viesturs Silenieks (2001-2011)
* Raimonds Vējonis (2003-2011)
* Edgars Tavars (from 2011)