Anna Lo

Anna Lo MBE, MLA
Anna Lo at the Alliance Youth stand at a Freshers' Event at the University of Ulster.
Member of the Northern Ireland Assembly
for Belfast South
Incumbent
Assumed office
7 March 2007
Preceded by Esmond Birnie
Personal details
Born 17 June 1950 (1950-06-17) (age 61)
Hong Kong
Political party Alliance Party of Northern Ireland
Religion Taoist

Anna Manwah Lo MBE (Chinese: 盧曼華 (born 17 June 1950) is an Alliance Party politician in Northern Ireland.[1] Born in Hong Kong, of Chinese ethnicity, Lo was elected to the Northern Ireland Assembly for South Belfast in the 2007 assembly election.[1] She was the first ethnic minority politician elected at a national level in Northern Ireland, and the first politician born in East Asia elected to any legislative body in the United Kingdom.[2][notes 1] Lo is also a social worker and former chairperson of the Northern Ireland Chinese Welfare Association.[3] A Taoist, Lo has resided in Northern Ireland for more than 30 years.[3]

Notes

  1. ^ Although she had been referred to in some media as "the first Chinese person to be elected as a lawmaker anywhere in Europe", she came only after Ing Yoe Tan, member of the Dutch Senate since 1999, Varina Tjon-A-Ten, Dutch lawmaker from 2003 to 2006, and Mei Li Vos, Dutch lawmaker since March 1, 2007. The first member of a European government with Chinese roots was Khee Liang Phoa, Dutch State Secretary for Emancipation and Family Affairs in 2002-2003. Lo is the first Chinese person elected to a European parliament who was actually born in China, technically Hong Kong, a British territory at the time of her birth. There have been three members of the unelected House of Lords of Chinese ethnicity, two of which from colonial Hong Kong or having ancestry from colonial Hong Kong, the first being Lydia Dunn who received her peerage in 1990. So far no China-born politician has been elected to a European parliament.

References

  1. ^ a b BBC News Online. "Belfast politician defies racists". March 26, 2007.
  2. ^ McBride, S. "South Belfast: Lo and behold - UK first for Alliance's Anna". Belfast Telegraph. March 8, 2007.
  3. ^ a b McDonald, H. "Chinese candidate defies racist abuse". Guardian Unlimited. February 11, 2007.

External links

Northern Ireland Assembly
Preceded by
Esmond Birnie		 MLA for Belfast South
2007–present		 Succeeded by
Incumbent