WINNING an election tries a candidate’s mettle. But winning a
place on the ballot paper is another kind of test. Arcane and
dubious eligibility criteria feature in many countries’
constitutions and electoral rules. The newly pluralist countries
of north Africa, for example, display what many might find a
xenophobic streak. Draft constitutions in Egypt and Libya
require presidential candidates to ditch not only any foreign
passports but also foreign spouses. Tunisia is even harsher: it
disqualifies anyone with a foreign parent. Even the keenest
candidate can do little to shed that taint. A draft in Egypt had
a similar rule. But when it turned out that a leading Salafist’s
late mother had once held an American passport, the wording
changed.  Countries that have shed communist dictatorship are
more liberal. Estonia’s president, Toomas Hendrick Ilves, was
born in Sweden of émigré parents. For unelected heads of state,
the regime is positively anarchic. Most European monarchs have
foreign forebears (British aristo