Editing Alliance 90/The Greens (section)

===1990s: German reunification, electoral failure in the West, formation of Alliance 90/The Greens===
[[File:Bundesarchiv Bild 183-1990-0208-015, Logo Grüne Partei der DDR.svg|thumb|left|The 1990 [[East German Green Party|GDR's Green Party]] logo]]
In the [[1990 German federal election|1990 federal elections]], taking place post-[[German reunification|reunified Germany]], the Greens in the West did not pass the 5% limit required to win seats in the Bundestag. It was only due to a temporary modification of German election law, applying the five-percent "hurdle" separately in East and West Germany, that the Greens acquired any parliamentary seats at all. This happened because in the [[new states of Germany]], the Greens, in a joint effort with [[Alliance 90]], a heterogeneous grouping of [[Civil and political rights|civil rights]] activists, were able to gain more than 5% of the vote. Some critics attribute this poor performance to the reluctance of the campaign to cater to the prevalent mood of [[nationalism]], instead focusing on subjects such as [[global warming]]. A campaign poster at the time proudly stated, "Everyone is talking about Germany; we're talking about the weather!", paraphrasing a popular slogan of [[Deutsche Bundesbahn]], the German national railway. The party also opposed imminent reunification that was in process, instead wanting to initiate debates on ecology and nuclear issues before reunification causing a drop in support in Western Germany.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Williams|first1=Carol J.|title=Greens, E. German Leftists Join Election Forces|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1990-09-24-mn-955-story.html |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date=10 July 2017}}</ref> After the [[1994 German federal election|1994 federal election]]; however, the merged party returned to the Bundestag, and the Greens received 7.3% of the vote nationwide and 49 seats.