The problem that you cite for the Greens...seen as elitist...seen as impractical....seems to be their fate...no matter where they are. Always stuck at 05-08% of the vote at most, usually closer to the 05%.
They come across as too learned or too silly or to scary for most folks. Until they remedy this, they will only be the small coalition partners or the voices in the wind. But, maybe that is their role, to supply ideas and launch ideas for other parties of the left to pick up or not.
Even though they're small, Green parties often have new, invigorating ideas due to the intellectual capacity of the rank and file. Here in the Netherlands, they now run the debate on how to reform the welfare-state in a social way. Only because Labour isn't producing too much ideas, but still.
