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 Party of Florida line in that year's election; Florida elections law allows any registered political party to place a candidate for president of the United States on the election ballot, but requires unaffiliated candidates (which Ralph Nader was in 2008) to submit a petition signed by 119,316 registered voters. The party nominated Nader for president of the United States in 2008. Nader accepted the nomination and appeared on the ballot in Florida as a candidate of the Ecology Party of Florida, while running in most other states as independent or unaffiliated. In 2009 the party registered as a co-intervener in an attempt to