PARIS: Looking casual without a necktie, National Assembly candidate Patrick Lozes strode purposefully into cafes, boutiques, a gay bar and a printing shop, greeting voters and handing out leaflets in an ethnically diverse and bustling district of central Paris.

“Our national assembly is not representative enough,” he said, making his standard pitch. “There are not enough different people.”

“People like you,” one young man agreed.

“Yes,” Lozes answered. “I’m a pharmacist. A businessman. An entrepreneur.”

Lozes likes to stress his background in business. But what many voters find most surprising about him is that he’s black. Born in Benin, the 37-year-old is hoping to break the colour barrier in one of France’s most restrictive clubs, the national political elite.

Seven million to eight million of France’s 60 million people are of black African, North African or Asian descent. But in the 577-member Parliament that was dissolved to make way for elections on Sunday, there was just one minority legislator representing continental France, Kofi Yamgnane of Brittany. There were others elected from overseas French territories.

In the current caretaker Cabinet, there is just one minority member, a woman of Algerian descent, Tokia Saifi, junior minister for sustainable development. The situation is similar across Western Europe.

Yamgnane, the lone minority legislator for continental France, recalled his term in office: “There were no Arabs. There were no Chinese,” he said. France’s World Cup team “more resembles French society than the national assembly.”

France’s minority communities paid close notice when President Bush named Colin Powell as secretary of state and Condoleezza Rice as national security adviser, Yamgnane said, adding, “That should give a lesson to the whole world.”

In recent years, France has championed itself as a successful multiracial country — “black, blanc, beur,” goes the slogan — black, white and North African. But in government, little is likely to change after Sunday’s election. Asked how many minority candidates there were this time around, Lozes smiled and looked at the small cafe table in the trendy Marais neighbourhood where he sat with a reporter. “We could fit them all around this table,” he said.

France recently passed a law guaranteeing women equality in political offices, by mandating that all political parties have an equal number of men and women on their candidate lists. But there are no laws guaranteeing equal access to minorities. It is difficult even to know exactly how many residents of France are black or of North African descent, and how many hold local or regional offices — keeping such records by race or ethnicity is illegal.

Political analysts say the big French parties just aren’t ready to take in the newcomers, even when votes could be won by doing so. “The parties are very sterile,” said commentator Dominique Moisi. “It’s linked to the archaism of the traditional parties. They are not nimble. They don’t find the right candidates.”—Dawn/LAT-WP News Service (c) The Washington Post