Prospect of 'British Obama' growing: study

A growing number of ethnic minority candidates are winning election to parliament , increasing the chances of producing a "British Obama," research published Thursday showed.

According to the left-wing Fabian Society think-tank, Britain may elect 10 or more new ethnic minority MPs at the next general election, which is due no later than 2010.

That figure is as much as the total number of new minority MPs elected in the previous four general elections.

"The chances for a British Obama are now much more hopeful than they would have been even 10 years ago," Fabian general secretary Sunder Katwala said.

The research was published two days after Obama became the first black president-elect of the United States, defeating Republican rival John McCain in the country's election on Tuesday.

Katwala said that 10 percent of new candidates for the governing Labour Party were from ethnic minority backgrounds -- by comparison, 7.5 percent of the British population are ethnic minorities.

For the main opposition Conservatives, that figure is four percent, though it rises to nine percent in the party's strongholds.

"In the Labour Party, you're seeing organic change over time, and in the Tory party, you're seeing fast progress from a very low base," Katwala told AFP.

At present Britain has 15 non-white parliamentarians, out of a total of 646.

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/18/20081106/tpl-prospect-of-british-obama-growing-st-10170b4.html