Thread: What other countries in the world, if any, have elected a minority to its highest office?

I can't think of any. I know no country in Europe has. I think it is ironic because they all were very adamant that America needed to elect a minority.

South Africa elected Nelson Madella.

France has. President Sarkozy is Hungarian, which is considered central Asian.

Tony Blair and Gordon Brown are both Scots, a minority of some 5 million in the UK.

Nestor Kirchner (Swiss) and Carlos Saul Menem (Syrian) were both elected President of Argentina for two terms each.

Michelle Bachelet (French) is President of Chile, which is majority Spaniard in ethnicity.

ALL countries in the middle east!

um....are you a moron?

You realize that in many countries in Africa have only black prsidents? They will never let a white or any other race take power.

Also...all the asian countries have asians as their leaders...they will never let another race as their leader.

Why should europeans?

And just so we're clear...the USA is a mixed country so it should have a different leaders of different races.

I'm assuming by "minority" you mean someone of a race that is a minority in their country?

Venezuela and Cuba both had black presidents.

Alberto Fujimori (Japanese) was president of Peru.

The African nation of Mauritius elected a white prime minister of French origin.

Jamaica had a white prime minister all through the 80s.

India has a white man as president of its ruling party.

India.
India's 80% population is Hindu, 13% Muslim, 2% Christian, 1.8% Sikh and the rest Buddhist, Jain and others.
Current Indian Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, is a Sikh.
Former Indian President, Abdul Kalaam, was a Muslim.

Elected minority heads of state

Japanese President of Peru Alberto Fujimori

Since women are considered a minority in the US and we have never had a female president I have listed some of them.
Female elected heads of state
First female Prime Minister and President
In 1960 Sirivamo Bandaranaike of Sri Lanka became the world's first female elected Prime Minister and in 1974 Isabel Perón of Argentina became the first woman President - one woman had been Acting Head of Government and two women Acting Heads of State before that.

Current female heads of state and government
There are 192 members of the United Nations, 2 independent states outside, a few self-declared de-facto independent states and many self-ruling depencies. 23 have got female leaders at the moment.

The 8 female Presidents are in Argentina, Chile, Finland, India, Ireland, Liberia, The Philippines and San Marino.

At the moment there are 8 woman Prime Ministers; in Germany, Haiti, New Zealand, Moldova, Mozambique, The Netherlands Antilles, Ukraine and The Åland Islands. For more details see:

Maraget Thatcher
Indira Gandhi
1997- President Mary McAleese, Ireland
1999- Prime Minister Hon. Helen Clark, New Zealand
2000- President Tarja Halonen, Finland
2001- Executive President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, The Philippines
2004- Prime Minister Luísa Días Diogo, Moçambique
2005- Federal Chancellor Angela Merkel, Germany
2006- Executive President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Liberia
2006- Executive President Michelle Bachelet Jeria, Chile
2006- Minister-President Emily de Jongh-Elhage, Nederlandse Antillen (Self-governing Part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands)
2007- President Pratibha Patil, India
2007- Executive President Cristina E. Fernández de Kirchner, Argentina
2007- Governor General Dame Louise Lake-Tack, Antigua and Barbuda
2007- President Borjana Kristo, The Federation of Bosnia (Bosnia-Hercegovina)
2007- Prime Minister Yuliya Tymoshenko, Ukraine
2007- Premier Viveca Eriksson, Åland (Finish External Territory)
And more