Petite, the Spanish female elected (5)
I believe the answer is:
elfin
'petite' is the definition.
(I've seen this before)
'the spanish female elected' is the wordplay.
'the spanish' becomes 'el'.
'female' becomes 'f' (abbreviation).
'elected' becomes 'in'.
'el'+'f'+'in'='ELFIN'
(Other definitions for elfin that I've seen before include "Small and delicate like fairy" , "puckish" , "Small and fragile" , "Small; impish" , "Sweet" .)