Joe Anglin, seen campaigning at Lacombe high school in February, announced Wednesday that the Alberta Greens are no longer an official political party in Alberta. (Scott Dippel/CBC)

The Green Party of Alberta has decided to withdraw as a registered political party in the province after internal dissent among the current and former executive.

The party, also known as the Alberta Greens, deregistered itself because officials have not been able to access financial information from the previous party leadership, interim leader Joe Anglin said Wednesday. The move means the party cannot run any candidates under its banner in the next provincial election.

The party went through a divisive leadership struggle that began at its annual general meeting in September 2008.

Anglin, a vocal activist against a proposed power line, eventually emerged as the party leader, taking over from George Read, who held the top job for five years.

"We showed up at the AGM and our former leadership fled with the books and that's been a problem ever since," said Anglin. "We thought we had four or five agreements with them to turn over all the financial information and they never fulfilled any of their agreements."

Party now registered as a non-profit group

The province requires financial reporting from political parties as part of the Election Finances and Contributions Disclosure Act.

"We had a small group of militant people who were just angry at the results of that AGM and they withheld this information," Anglin told CBC News.

"When you do not have access to the financial records, you cannot comply with various financial reporting, and that's it in a nutshell."

The Alberta Greens are now officially registered as a non-profit organization. Anglin said a meeting will soon be announced to plan the party's future.

The cancellation of the party's registration is effective on Thursday but the Alberta Greens have 30 days to request a review, said the office of the chief electoral officer of Alberta.

Audited financial statements for 2008 have not been filed by the party, officials confirmed.

In the last provincial election in March 2008, the Alberta Greens didn't win any seats and received 4.58 per cent of the popular vote.