Ethnic minorities 'under-represented' in Spanish politics, despite country's healthy attitude to foreigners, says Pathway to Power
Friday, March 4, 2016 @ 4:47 PM
RESEARCH on European MPs and their nationalities has found foreigners are under-represented in Spain more than anywhere else in the EU – despite Spaniards' attitude to immigrants being one of the most welcoming and friendly on the continent.
In an ideal world, politicians across a country would be a demographic mirror of the population with the same split of men and women, expats and nationals, age ranges, disabilities, sexual orientation, couples and families versus single people, transgender and other diverse elements of the nation in the same proportion in Parliament as they are in real life.
But in terms of foreigners, the further south in Europe MPs are based, the more likely they are to be white natives rather than immigrants and/or black residents.
In Spain, the first-ever black MP – part of the left-wing independents Podemos – gained a seat in the December elections.
Rita Bosaho (pictured) was born in Equatorial Guinea and has a Spanish passport, and said at the time how she believed 'ethnic minorities' should be more numerous in Parliament.
Spain's foreign-born population is very similar to that of The' Netherlands and the UK – between 10% and 13%, allowing for those which are not registered on a census – but unlike Spain, both the British and Dutch Parliaments have at least one in 10 foreign members.
Foreigner numbers have fallen in Spain in the last decade, but this is as much to do with long-term non-EU expats taking Spanish citizenship as with those leaving the country.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com