Humza Yousaf has been announced as Nicola Sturgeon’s replacement following a vicious SNP leadership race. The current Scottish Health Secretary defeated rival candidates Kate Forbes and Ash Regan in a ballot of party members.
Mr Yousaf was named the winner this afternoon at the BT Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh after SNP members had until noon to cast their votes.
He will be declared Scotland’s sixth first minister after a vote in the Scottish Parliament tomorrow.
The SNP’s national secretary Lorna Finn announced that turnout in the party’s leadership election was 70 percent.
For first preferences in the STV system, Mr Yousaf took 24,336 (48 percent), Ms Forbes took 20,559 (40 percent) and Ms Regan took 5,599 (11 percent) of the vote.
When second preferences were distributed in the second stage, Mr Yousaf took 26,032 (52 percent) and Ms Forbes took 23,890 (48 percent).
It comes after Ms Sturgeon in February announced her shock resignation after more than eight years in the job.
It has been a rocky leadership race for the party with the hopefuls repeatedly tearing into each other during live TV debates and hustings events.
The contest has also seen the dramatic resignation of Ms Sturgeon’s husband Peter Murrell as chief executive following controversy over the transparency of SNP membership numbers.
Even the SNP’s intermin chief executive Mike Russell has said the party is in “a tremendous mess”.
The chaos has sent the party’s poll ratings plunging to the delight of Labour and the Conservatives who hope to gain seats in Scotland at the next general election.
Scotland’s new First Minister comes into the post with an in-tray that is already bulging.
Top of their to-do list will be reuniting a party which has been rocked by the leadership race.
One of the initial tasks for the new Scottish First Minister will be to appoint their cabinet – and with Deputy First Minister John Swinney stepping down alongside Ms Sturgeon, big changes are inevitable.
The controversial issue of gender reform, and whether the Scottish Government should mount a legal challenge to the UK Government’s decision to block legislation passed by Holyrood, will also have to be considered with priority.
Polls had put the candidates almost neck and neck, with Mr Yousaf favourite among SNP voters, according to an Ipsos Scotland survey of 1,023 Scots, with a net favourability of 11 percent, compared with 6 percent for his rival, Ms Forbes.
But Ms Horbes is viewed more favourably by the general public, with a net popularity rating of minus 8 percent, compared with Mr Yousaf’s minus 20 percent.
Ms Regan, who was widely considered an outsider for the job, had a net favourability of minus 24 percent among the general public, and minus 7 perent with SNP voters.
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