This article is about the Bulgarian Greens. For the junior partner of the Socialist-led "Coalition for Bulgaria", see Green Party of Bulgaria

Green Party of Bulgaria

The Green Party of Bulgaria is a political party in Bulgaria. It is part of the Coalition for Bulgaria, an alliance led by the Bulgarian Socialist Party...

.

The Greens are a green

Green politics

Green politics is a political ideology that aims for the creation of an ecologically sustainable society rooted in environmentalism, social liberalism, and grassroots democracy...

 Bulgarian

Bulgaria

Bulgaria , officially the Republic of Bulgaria , is a parliamentary democracy within a unitary constitutional republic in Southeast Europe. The country borders Romania to the north, Serbia and Macedonia to the west, Greece and Turkey to the south, as well as the Black Sea to the east...

 political party founded in 2008.

History

Zelenite emerged from a number of non-governmental organizations who felt, after years of work in the area of environment protection, human rights, etc. that their work needed serious political backing if it was to have a lasting effect.

A major motivation to found a political party was criticism of various shortcomings in the political system in Bulgaria, including widespread corruption, lack of democratic control, and the general malfunction of state institutions at all levels.

The party had its inaugural meeting in May 2008 in Sofia (capital of Bulgaria). During the following three months, more than 6000 members were registered.

According to its statutes, the party has three chairpersons with equal rights.

Chairpersons

As first chairpersons were elected Denica Petrova, Andrey Kovachev and Petko Kovachev (2008). A national assembly of the party in May 2010 consisting of about 50 delegates elected a new board of chairpersons with Georg Tuparev, Daniela Bozhinova and Andrey Kovachev.

Programme

The Greens see themselves as part of the network of green parties in Europe.
The political programme of the Greens reflects to a large extent the programme of the European Green Party

European Green Party

The European Green Party is the Green political party at European level. As such it is a federation of green parties in Europe.-History:...

 but also includes topics specific for Bulgaria such as changes in the political system in order to overcome inherent problems of governance and democratic control.

Elections

After an effective grassroots campaign, the Greens managed to secure registration for the June 2009 European Parliament elections

European Parliament election, 2009 (Bulgaria)

The European Parliament election of 2009 in Bulgaria was held on Sunday 7 June 2009 and was the election of the delegation from Bulgaria to the European Parliament. As a result of the Treaty of Nice - that became active in November 2004 - the number of Bulgarian delegates in the European Parliament...

, and received the official endorsement of the European Green Party. The party gained 0.72%

In the Bulgarian parliamentary election, 2009

Bulgarian parliamentary election, 2009

Parliamentary elections were held in Bulgaria on 5 July 2009. The decisive winner of the elections was Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria party, led by Sofia mayor Boyko Borisov...

, the party gained 21,841 Votes, or 0.52%.
That made it the ninth party of Bulgaria.

External links

• Official website
• Official website of the Sofia (Sredec) local branch of Zelenite
• "Bulgarian Greens Established" - Article in The Sofia Echo, 18 May 2008.
• Article in the Bulgarian news portal "aktualno" about the inaugural meeting of "Zelenite" (Bulgarian Greens) on 18 May 2008.
• Article in "news.bg" about an initiative of "Zelenite" to stop construction activities in Sofia (15 March 2008)
• Interview with Petko Kovachev, chairperson of "Zelenite", 4 June 2008, in "ipsnews".
• Results of the parliamentary elections in June 2009 as published on the party's website
• How the established parties try to get rid of their competitors for the European elections. The article (2009) analyzes the bureaucratic obstacles the Greens and other small parties in Bulgaria were facing during two election campaigns in 2009.