Most of France?s non-white population is from Arab north Africa or sub-Saharan Africa. Eboda, who has compiled a list of ?Britain?s 100 Most Influential Black People?, said there were only two black CEOs in British blue-chip companies. People of Asian origin are much better represented in business.

Lozes said Obama in the White House would encourage European leaders to take ?affirmative action? about black people?s access to the top echelons of public life, and would boost black people?s views of their own possibilities. ?Minorities will see it is posible, self-inhibition will decrease and people who were not trying anything because of discrimination will feel they can succeed.?

?This could mean a great injection of hope for the black diaspora in Europe,? said Italy?s sole black parliamentarian Jean Leonard Touadi, who moved to the country from Brazzaville in 1979. Speaking in a country where the government has been accused of racism and there have been attacks on African immigrants, Touadi said that even if Obama loses, ?he has already won?. ?Even if he doesn?t get into the White House, it is a symbolic victory in the sense that he has shown the way forward and there is no going back.?

<B>Stephen BROWN</B>

LEADING ON MCCAIN BY 12 PTS

■ Democrat Barack Obama?s lead over Republican rival John McCain has grown to 12 points in the U.S. presidential race, with crucial independent and women voters increasingly moving to his side, according to a Reuters/C-SPAN/Zogby poll released yesterday. With less than two weeks before the November 4 election, Obama leads McCain 52 percent to 40 percent among likely voters in the latest three-day tracking poll, which had a margin of error of 2.9 points. Obama has made steady gains over the last four days and has tripled his lead on McCain in the past week of polling. ?Obama?s expansion is really across the board,? pollster John Zogby said. ?It seems to be among almost every demographic group.? The Illinois senator saw his lead among women ? who are expected to play a decisive role in this election ? increase to 18 points from 16 points on Wednesday. And independent voters, who have been the target of intense campaign efforts by both sides, have now swung behind Obama by a 30-point margin, 59 percent to 29 percent. Zogby said McCain, 72, appeared to have lost the traction he won after the third and final presidential debate last week. ?McCain can still try to turn it around, but he has to find focus,? Zogby said, adding that economic issues, which dominated the campaign amid turmoil in the credit, housing and financial markets, still seem to be working in Obama?s favor. ?At some point there are some issues that just overwhelm, and McCain has been particularly weak on the economy,? Zogby said in a statement. Other recent national polls have given Obama a narrower lead, but Zogby said he was confident in his sampling methods. The latest poll showed a continued erosion of McCain?s support even among his ?base? voters. While Obama wins the backing of 86 percent of Democrats, only 81 percent of Republicans back the Arizona senator ? down from figures in the low 90s immediately after the Republican national convention in early September.