# What countries have elected a leader from a minority racial group? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 5, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008 "2009-07-05T20:55:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/1 "2009-07-05T20:55:09Z")
I was talking to some friends about which would have been more significant: Barack Obama becoming President as a Black man or Hilary Clinton becoming President because she is a woman. I suggested that a Black Man winning the election was more significant because women have been elected in many other countries before, while it is hard to think of too many nations that have chosen a man or woman from a minority racial group. If we collected all the countries that had women as leaders, we’d have a huge list. How many countries have elected leaders who are not from the majority race? I’ll start with the obvious: Barack Obama from the United States. He’s Black and the majority race in America is White. Define race however you see fit. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/2 "2009-07-05T21:05:03Z")
[Alberto Fujimori](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alberto_Fujimori) of Peru comes to mind. ETA: I suppose you’re excluding situations like Apartheid-era South Africa, where a minority race has all the power? ---
**Author:** ![MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c0e974/32.png) [@MPB\_in\_Salt\_Lake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MPB_in_Salt_Lake)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 9:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/3 "2009-07-05T21:07:05Z")
Peru elected Alberto Fujimori, whose ethnic background is markedly different from the average Peruvian… ---
**Author:** ![otorophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@otorophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otorophile)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/4 "2009-07-05T21:12:36Z")
Probably not really what you were going for, but South Africa (before the ANC). I wouldn’t be surprised if there were more examples of a minority in power as a result of oppression than the case with Obama. ETA: beaten by scr4 ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/5 "2009-07-05T21:19:57Z")
Sort of similar thread: [Democratically Elected Heads of State From Oppressed Minorities](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=492554) ---
**Author:** ![Simplicio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c37758/32.png) [@Simplicio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Simplicio)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 9:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/6 "2009-07-05T21:43:40Z")
Benjamin Disraeli was Prime Minister of Britain and ethnically Jewish, though religiously Christian. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/7 "2009-07-05T21:49:19Z")
I am wondering if Nelson Mandela would qualify as “minority”. Although 77% of South Africans are “Black” (meaning of Bantu descent), they are traditionally divided among a number of large “tribes” (for lack of a better term) including the Zulu, the amaXhosa, the Tswana, etc. Mandela’s ancestry traces to a cadet branch of the Thembu subgroup of the amaXhosa, who comprise only 5.3 million of South Africa’s ca. 45 million population. What he did, though, was to unite Black South Africans in the African National Congress, and successfully combat apartheid and the white minority regime. In a quite real sense his accomplishments parallel Washington’s in taking people from Massachusetts, Virginia, etc., and making them see themselves as Americans, not just citizens of their state. This is probably too debatable for GQ, but the bare fact is an accomplishment worth noting. ---
**Author:** ![otorophile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/3ab097/32.png) [@otorophile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/otorophile)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/8 "2009-07-05T21:54:18Z")
Saddam Hussein wasn’t elected, IIRC, but he was Sunni in a predominantly Shia country. ---
**Author:** ![Pushkin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ee59a6/32.png) [@Pushkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pushkin)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/9 "2009-07-05T22:05:08Z")
> [@Simplicio](#): > > Benjamin Disraeli was Prime Minister of Britain and ethnically Jewish, though religiously Christian. I thought of him, in a somewhat similar vein Arthur Wellesley sprang to mind too, Irish born but went on to be Prime Minister. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/10 "2009-07-05T22:30:30Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I was talking to some friends about which would have been more significant: Barack Obama becoming President as a Black man Obama, is of course, half white. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/11 "2009-07-05T23:12:23Z")
India currently has a female president (Pratibha Patil) and a Sikh prime minister (Manmohan Singh). I believe they used to have a Dhalit (Untouchable) PM, but could be mistaken. Fiji’s former Prime Minister Mahendra Chaudhry, an ethnic Indian, served from 1999-2001. A coup in 2000 led by ethnic Fijian George Speight contributed to the brevity of his term. Indians account for about a third of the population. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [July 5, 2009, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/12 "2009-07-05T23:18:49Z")
> [@Pushkin](#): > > I thought of him, in a somewhat similar vein Arthur Wellesley sprang to mind too, Irish born but went on to be Prime Minister. Winston Churchill was half American. Does he count as a minority? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 12:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/13 "2009-07-06T00:13:56Z")
> [@](#): > > Obama, is of course, half white. Which doesn’t really matter, since most “blacks” in America have a significant amount of white ancestry. The only difference in Obama’s case is that his white ancestry is more recent, and it was consensual. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 12:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/14 "2009-07-06T00:17:35Z")
Iran and Mousavi. He probably won this time, but even if he didn’t, he was PM from 1981-89. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/15 "2009-07-06T01:09:52Z")
Another British P.M., John Major, is almost sort of kind of half-American. His father was born in the U.K. but spent most of his childhood in the U.S.: > **[Tom Major-Ball](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Major-Ball)** > > Tom Major-Ball (born Abraham Thomas Ball; 18 May 1879 – 27 March 1962) was a British music hall and circus performer. He was the father of John Major, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1990 to 1997. > He was born Abraham Thomas Ball in Bloxwich, Staffordshire, on 18 May 1879. He was a son of Abraham Ball, a bricklayer, and his wife Sarah Ann Marrah or O'Marrah who was of Irish and possibly Welsh descent. The family also had an adopted son, Alfred. When he was five years old, Major-Ball and... ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/16 "2009-07-06T03:58:34Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > Another British P.M., John Major, is almost sort of kind of half-American. His father was born in the U.K. but spent most of his childhood in the U.S.: > > [Tom Major-Ball - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tom_Major-Ball) On what planet could John Major possibly be considered of a minority ethnic group in Great Britain? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/17 "2009-07-06T04:08:09Z")
> [@suranyi](#): > > On what planet could John Major possibly be considered of a minority ethnic group in Great Britain? Well, he wears glasses. ---
**Author:** ![Lochdale](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/edb3f5/32.png) [@Lochdale](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lochdale)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/18 "2009-07-06T04:17:35Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Which doesn’t really matter, since most “blacks” in America have a significant amount of white ancestry. The only difference in Obama’s case is that his white ancestry is more recent, and it was consensual. Well sure it matters as Obama is discenably half white. His Mother is still alive I believe so it’s more than just a vague ancestry. Didn’t Madagasgar elect a member of the Indian minority as PM? ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/19 "2009-07-06T04:19:17Z")
Jalal Talabani, president of Iraq, is a Kurd. ---
**Author:** ![Horatio\_Hellpop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Horatio\_Hellpop](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Horatio_Hellpop)\ **Post date:** [July 6, 2009, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008/20 "2009-07-06T04:21:59Z")
> [@Lochdale](#): > > Well sure it matters as Obama is discenably half white. His Mother is still alive I believe so it’s more than just a vague ancestry. No, she [died in 1995](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ann_Dunham). [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-countries-have-elected-a-leader-from-a-minority-racial-group/502008.md?page=2)