The Green Party (, , , ) is a centre-left green political party in Norway. The party holds three seats in the Parliament of Norway (gaining 3.8% in the 2021 elections) and also has representation in municipal councils and county councils (gaining 6.8% in the 2019 elections). The Green Party advocates green politics, and has been described as centre-left by academics and voters. The party itself claims distance from the two dominant right-wing and left-wing political blocks, jointly denominated as "the fossil block", and have stated their refusal to form a government with any parties that will continue to drill for oil in the North Sea. The Green Party is a member of the European Green Party and the Global Greens, and was founded with the German Greens as its stated model. It maintains close ties to other Green parties including the German Greens and the Swedish Greens. It is led by Arild Hermstad. History The process of forming a new national green party in Norway was initiated in December 1984, with the official launch in 1988. Among the pioneers were the late philosopher Arne Næss, peace researcher Johan Galtung, and the philosopher Sigmund Kvaløy Setreng. In the local elections between 1991 and 2009 the Green Party had 6 - 8 representatives elected each time. In the national elections the party never exceeded 0.5% support. Since 2005, the Greens have seen a significant membership rise, with the new members coming from a wide variety of other parties, including the seven established parliamentary parties. In the municipal elections of 2011, the party saw its first local breakthrough, having garnered close to 22,000 votes on a national basis. Two years later, during the campaign for the 2013 general election, the party saw a significant rise in support in the opinion polls. The Greens were widely expected to gain parliamentary representation to some extent. In the election, the Greens gathered over 79,000 votes, making them the 8th biggest party in the country. This vote count translates to 2.8 percent of the vote. Rasmus Hansson, the party's top candidate from Oslo was elected to parliament, becoming the first ever Green MP. In the local elections of 2015 the Green Party overtook the 4% nationally for the first time in its history and got the third place in Oslo. Ideology The Green Party is one of the global ecologist and environmentalist political parties and movements.