Progressive Green Party (New Zealand) - Definition and Overview

The Progressive Green Party was an environmentalist political party in New Zealand. It was established as a "blue-green" party - that is, one which is environmentalist ("green"), but is economically right-wing ("blue") rather than left-wing ("red").

The Progressive Green Party was established on 9 August 1995 as a splinter group of the larger Green Party. The founders of the Progressive Greens were unhappy at the direction taken by the Green Party, which they believed was too left-wing. The Progressive Greens particularly opposed the Green Party's membership in the Alliance, a broad left-wing coalition. Prominent members of the new party included Stephen Rainbow (a former member of the Wellington city council), Guy Salmon (head of the Maruia Society, forerunner to today's Ecologic Foundation), and Gary Taylor (a former Waitemata City city councillor).

In the 1996 election, conducted under the new MMP system, the Progressive Greens won only 0.26% of the vote, considerably below what they had hoped for. No Progressive Greens were elected to Parliament. The Progressive Green Party did not contest any further elections, and is now disbanded. Many of the party's members, however, are now associated with the Bluegreens, an environmental "task force" within the National Party. Stephen Rainbow and Guy Salmon, once prominent in the Progressive Green Party, stood as list candidates for the National Party in the 1999 election and 2002 election, respectively, but were not elected.

See also

• Eco-capitalist

External link

• Bluegreens (http://www.bluegreens.org.nz/), often seen as the Progressive Green Party's successor