Scottish Health Minister Humza Yousaf, 37, has been elected as Nicola Sturgeon’s successor at the head of the Scottish National Party (SNP), so she will also take over as prime minister, it was announced Monday.
The candidate with the most support among the party’s deputies and seen as a favourite, Yousaf was elected with 26,032 votes, defeating Kate Forbes, who obtained 23,890 votes, and Ash Regan, eliminated in the first round of the vote count carried out according to the transfer model.
The winner was honored and promised to continue working collectively.
The son of a Pakistani father and a Kenyan mother, also of Asian origin, Humza Yousaf is the first Scottish leader of an ethnic minority, and the first Muslim to lead a major political party in the United Kingdom.
Elected to the Scottish regional parliament in 2011, he took the oath in English and Urdu, which he repeated in 2016 with a Scottish skirt (traditional Scottish kilt) and coat sherwani to reflect the influence of both cultures.
His closeness to his predecessor made him the continuist candidate, especially with regard to maintaining the parliamentary agreement with the Scottish Greens.
Supporters highlighted communication skills and experience. Since 2012, Yousaf has held various positions in the Scottish Government, including Justice, Transport and Health.
However, Yousaf has also come under fire for growing problems in the Scottish health system and the controversial hate crime law he introduced when he was justice minister.
Humza Yousaf has vowed to continue the fight against the UK government’s veto of a controversial gender reassignment law.
Regarding the fight for independence, he argued during the campaign that it must be achieved through the defense of progressive values and that the SNP must speak more about the independence vision than technical aspects, to convince undecided voters.
Nicola Sturgeon is expected to formally submit her resignation as Prime Minister to King Charles III in the coming hours.
On Tuesday, the new leader of the SNP will be up for a vote at the Holyrood regional assembly to be officially appointed first minister and on Wednesday he will be sworn in at the Court of Session in Edinburgh as head of the Scottish government.
Sturgeon, 52, unexpectedly announced his resignation in mid-February after eight years as party leader and head of Scotland’s home government, citing the “physical and mental impact” he has had in recent years.
The internal election in the SNP opened divisions within the party over political strategy and the legacy of Sturgeon, hitherto popular with most Scots.
The SNP currently holds 64 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and governs in coalition with the much smaller Greens. It is also the third most voted party at the national level, with 45 deputies.
However, it has been losing affiliates, whose number went from more than 100,000 to around 70,000 last year.
The election of the leadership also lowered the levels of support for the SNP and the independence referendum, which the party has as its main ambition, in the polls.
Scottish voters voted to stay in the UK in a 2014 referendum, but the SNP wants a new vote because they disagree on Brexit.
However, the central government has refused to authorize a second referendum and the UK Supreme Court has ruled that Scotland cannot hold one without London’s consent.
Source: TSF
