Green party to their charismatic leader Petra Kelly, a German who was of interest to the American media because she had an American step-father. Since its foundation in 1980 and merger with Alliance 90 after the German reunification, Kelly's party, now named Alliance '90/The Greens, has become one of Europe's most important Green parties. It played an important role in the formation of national-level Green parties in other countries such as Spain as well. The forerunner of the Green Party in the United Kingdom was the PEOPLE Party, formed in Coventry in 1972. It changed its name to the Ecology Party in
Ecology Democracy Party through education and grassroots organizing. The party attempts to offer guidance for necessary structural changes in the economy, the way we vote, and who influences our government. It attempts to accomplish these structural changes through three mandates: The party advocates ecology, campaign finance reform, proportional representation, ending corporate personhood, holism, public funding of elections and establishing a tax-refundable Minnesota currency with zero interest. Ken Pentel ran for Governor of Minnesota in 2010 and received 6,180 votes, or 0.29%. In 2012 the party endorsed write-in candidate Andrew Schuler for U.S. Senate and ran Anthony Hilton for the State House, district 59B.