Yes we can? Ethnic minority representation at the local level: the influence of political parties and electoral systems in Belgium and England

Since the end of World War II, most Western countries face a growing number of ethnic minorities within their borders. Over the years, the migrant population diversified and turned into a permanent phenomenon. As a result, we nowadays live in very diverse societies. However, our political institutions are less diverse, as there remains an underrepresentation of specific groups and more specifically of ethnic minorities. The scholarly literature on ethnic minority representation points at the importance of the Political Opportunity Structure (POS) and more specifically of citizenship regimes, electoral systems, characteristics of the ethnic group and political parties to explain the political (under)representation of ethnic minorities. In this paper, I focus more specifically on the influence of electoral systems and political parties. I discuss which party characteristics and which elements of the electoral system are beneficial for the political representation of ethnic minorities. This comparative paper is based on a qualitative case study of one Belgian and one English city. In these cities, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ethnic representatives, ethnic candidates, representatives of the ethnic community and party representatives. Interviews were analyzed using the grounded theory approach (Glaser, 1992).Since the end of World War II, most Western countries face a growing number of ethnic minorities within their borders. Over the years, the migrant population diversified and turned into a permanent phenomenon. As a result, we nowadays live in very diverse societies. However, our political institutions are less diverse, as there remains an underrepresentation of specific groups and more specifically of ethnic minorities. The scholarly literature on ethnic minority representation points at the importance of the Political Opportunity Structure (POS) and more specifically of citizenship regimes, electoral systems, characteristics of the ethnic group and political parties to explain the political (under)representation of ethnic minorities. In this paper, I focus more specifically on the influence of electoral systems and political parties. I discuss which party characteristics and which elements of the electoral system are beneficial for the political representation of ethnic minorities. This comparative paper is based on a qualitative case study of one Belgian and one English city. In these cities, semi-structured interviews were conducted with ethnic representatives, ethnic candidates, representatives of the ethnic community and party representatives. Interviews were analyzed using the grounded theory approach (Glaser, 1992).C