Editing Green League (section)

==History==

=== Founding ===
The Green League was founded on 28 February 1987 and was registered as a political party the next year. <!--(In Finland 5.000 signatures are needed to register a new party).-->Political activity had begun already in the early 1980s, when [[environmentalist|environmental activists]], [[feminist]]s, disillusioned young politicians from the marginalized [[Liberals (Finland)|Liberal People's Party]] and other active groups began to campaign on green issues in Finland. In 1995, it was the first [[Europe]]an green party to be part of a state-level [[Cabinet (government)|cabinet]].

The party was founded as a popular movement, which explains its name's descriptor, ''liitto'', "league". Initially, there was much resistance within the movement against founding a political party, motivated by [[Robert Michels]]' [[iron law of oligarchy]], which claims that movements inevitably degenerate into [[Oligarchy|oligarchies]] when they create a formal organization.<ref name="Mickelsson">Rauli Mickelsson. Suomen puolueet - Historia, muutos ja nykypäivä. Vastapaino 2007, 429 pages.</ref> The party still stresses openness and democratic decision-making, even if the Finnish word, "''liitto''", has been dropped from the party's website and advertisements, the word still remains in its official and registered name.

=== Early activities (1983–1994) ===
The first two parliamentary representatives were elected even before the registration, in the [[1983 Finnish parliamentary election|1983 parliamentary election]]. These were the first independent representatives in the Finnish Parliament. In [[1987 Finnish parliamentary election|1987]] the number of seats rose to four, and in [[1991 Finnish parliamentary election|1991]] to a total of ten.

About half of the party's members were against Finland joining the [[European Union]] in 1994. Later, polls showed that most Greens were anti-[[Eurozone]].<ref name="euroopanunionissa">{{cite web |url= http://blogs.helsinki.fi/vol-spj/suomi-eussa/|title= 4.2 Suomi Euroopan Unionissa}}</ref> The party heads declined to fight against [[Enlargement of the eurozone|euro-adoption]].

=== As part of the Lipponen Cabinets (1995–2003) ===
In the [[1995 Finnish parliamentary election|1995 election]], the Green League received a total of nine seats out of 200. The party joined the coalition cabinet led by the [[Social Democratic Party of Finland|Social Democratic Party]], and [[Pekka Haavisto]] became the [[Minister of the Environment (Finland)|Minister of the Environment]],<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://valtioneuvosto.fi/en/government/history/governments-and-ministers/report/-/r/m1/66|title=Composition of a certain government, 66. Lipponen|website=Valtioneuvosto|language=en-US|access-date=2018-01-18}}</ref> thus becoming the first green minister in Europe.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2012-01-11|title=Who is Pekka Haavisto? {{!}} Haavisto 2012 {{!}} nro. 2|url=http://haavisto2012.fi/en/who-is-pekka-haavisto/|access-date=2021-11-24|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120111130447/http://haavisto2012.fi/en/who-is-pekka-haavisto/|archive-date=2012-01-11}}</ref>

The Green League received 7.3% of the vote, and gained two additional seats in the [[1999 Finnish parliamentary election|1999 election]], raising the total to 11. The Greens continued in [[Lipponen II Cabinet|the next coalition cabinet]], but resigned in protest on 26 May 2002, after the cabinet's decision to allow the construction of [[Olkiluoto Nuclear Power Plant#Unit 3|a new nuclear plant]] was accepted by the parliament.

=== Growth to mainstream appeal (2003–present) ===
In 2003, the Green League received 8.0% of the vote, receiving a total of 14 seats. They increased their seats to 15 in the [[2007 Finnish parliamentary election|2007 election]] while receiving 8.5% of the vote. In the [[2011 Finnish parliamentary election|2011 election]], the party lost five seats.

In the [[2009 European Parliament election in Finland|2009 European Parliament elections]], the Greens gained two of the thirteen Finnish seats in the [[European Parliament]], which were occupied by [[Satu Hassi]] and [[Heidi Hautala]].

At the municipal level, the Greens are an important force in the politics of the main cities of Finland. In the municipal election of 2008 the Greens received 8.9% of the vote; the vote share was considerably higher in [[Helsinki]], where the Greens became the second-largest party with 23.2% of the vote.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yle.fi/vaalit2008/tulospalvelu/vaalipiirit/puolueiden_kannatus_vp1.html |title=Vaalit 2008 tulospalvelu - Helsinki - Puolueiden kannatus |publisher=Yle.fi |date=2008-10-30 |access-date=2013-12-23|language=fi}}</ref> In several other cities, the Greens achieved the position of the third-largest party. The Greens are weaker in rural area and especially in municipalities that experience high levels of outward migration.

By the 2017 Green League party congress, Niinistö had served three full two-year terms as the chairman and stepped down according to the rules of the party. In the following [[2017 Green League leadership election|leadership election]], there were six candidates running for party chairman, of whom MP [[Touko Aalto]] won the election.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.is.fi/kotimaa/art-2000005258983.html |title=Touko Aalto vihreiden puheenjohtajaksi |date=17 June 2017 |publisher=Vihreät |language=fi |access-date=17 June 2017}}</ref>

Soon after Aalto's election, the popularity of the Green League surged in the polls and raised briefly as the second most popular party in the country.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.hs.fi/politiikka/art-2000005342732.html|title=Vihreät nousi toiseksi suurimmaksi puolueeksi ja sai parin kuukauden aikana 80 000 uutta äänestäjää – Puheenjohtaja Aalto: "Isoa liikehdintää tapahtuu" |date=28 August 2017 |work=Helsingin Sanomat |language=fi |access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref> However, in September 2017 the poll numbers turned into a downward slope, which continued until autumn 2018.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.is.fi/politiikka/art-2000005875727.html|title=Touko Aallon 494 päivää vihreiden puheenjohtajana – pääministeripuheista syöksykierteeseen |date=24 October 2018 |work=Ilta-Sanomat |language=fi |access-date=25 October 2018}}</ref> After taking a month of sick leave due to exhaustion in September 2018, Aalto soon announced that he was resigning from his post, citing depression and fatigue.<ref>{{cite news|title=Greens chair Touko Aalto steps down: "I need more time for recovery"|url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/osasto/news/greens_chair_touko_aalto_steps_down_i_need_more_time_for_recovery_/10473177|access-date=25 October 2018|publisher=Yle|date=24 October 2018}}</ref>

In November 2018, the Green League decided to choose a temporary chairman to lead the party into the 2019 parliamentary elections and until the next party convention. In the leadership election, former chairman Pekka Haavisto was once again elected as chairman.<ref>{{cite news|title=Pekka Haavisto valittiin vihreiden johtoon murskaäänin 40–1 – puolueella on Touko Aallon uupumisen myötä "peiliin katsomisen paikka"|url=https://www.hs.fi/paivanlehti/04112018/art-2000005887795.html|access-date=5 November 2018|publisher=Yle|date=4 November 2018}}</ref>

In June 2019, Haavisto stepped down as the chairman of the party. [[Maria Ohisalo]] was the only candidate in the leadership election and was thus elected as chairman in the city of [[Pori]].<ref name=ohisalo>{{Cite news|url=https://yle.fi/uutiset/3-10831861|title=Maria Ohisalo – parissa kuukaudessa ensin kansanedustajaksi, sitten ministeriksi ja nyt vihreiden puheenjohtajaksi |work=Yle Uutiset|access-date=2019-06-15|language=fi}}</ref>

In the [[2023 Finnish parliamentary election|2023 parliamentary election]], Ohisalo was re-elected with 6,937 votes.<ref>{{cite web | url = https://tulospalvelu.vaalit.fi/EKV-2023/en/val01.html| title = Parliamentary Elections 2023: Electoral district of Helsinki | website = Ministry of Justice | accessdate = 6 July 2023}}</ref> However, as the Greens suffered an election defeat, Ohisalo announced that she would not seek another term as chairman. In June 2023, she was replaced by [[Sofia Virta]].<ref>{{cite web | url = https://www.hs.fi/politiikka/art-2000009575091.html | title = Sofia Virrasta vihreiden uusi puheenjohtaja, myös muu puoluejohto uusiksi | work = Helsingin Sanomat | date = 10 June 2023 | accessdate = 6 July 2023}}</ref>