By Jessica Frank-Keyes
Humza Yousaf has been selected as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) after an acrimonious race to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as first minister.
Yousaf, the SNP’s health secretary, 37, won a total of 26,032 ballots in the second round, taking a 52.1 per cent share of the vote, the party confirmed today.
He is set to become Scotland’s youngest ever first minister, first Muslim leader and also the first ever person from a minority ethnic background to lead the Scottish government.
But he has faced criticism for his management of Scotland’s health service with one top doctor warning the NHS is in “dire” straits.
While Kate Forbes, 32, came in second with 23,890 second round votes, or 47.9 per cent, trailed by outsider Ash Regan, 49, who was eliminated in the first round with 5,599 votes, or 11.1 per cent.
Yousaf received 24,336 votes, or 48.2 per cent, in the first round – just shy of a majority – while Forbes reached 20,559, or 40.7 per cent.
He said: “I feel like the luckiest man in the world to be standing here as leader of the SNP. A party I joined almost 20 years and that I love so dearly.”
Sturgeon welcomed the result, writing on Twitter: “I pay tribute to all three candidates for the SNP leadership for rising to the challenge.
“Most of all I congratulate Humza Yousaf and wish him every success. He will be an outstanding leader and first minister and I could not be prouder to have him succeed me.”
Yousaf, finance minister Forbes and former community safety minister Regan have closely vied for the top job since Sturgeon’s unexpected resignation last month.
She announced she would step down after more than eight years in post, once her successor had been chosen.
It followed a period of growing turbulence over gender self-ID policies; transgender rapist Isla Bryson; and ongoing battles with Westminster over a second independence referendum.
The candidates have taken part in about 16 hustings during the contest and clashed over their respective records in government and views on social issues including equal marriage.
While the dramatic resignation of SNP chief executive Peter Murrell, Sturgeon’s husband, amid controversy over falling membership numbers, prompted demands for greater transparency.
Frontrunners Yousaf and Forbes were neck and neck throughout the race, with the health minister the favourite among SNP voters and his rival, pitching herself as a ‘change candidate’, proving more popular with the public.
Regan, who quit her government post over objections to Sturgeon’s gender self-ID reforms, was widely seen as an outsider for the post – but did gain the backing of MP Joanna Cherry.
Ballots closed at midday, with around 72,000 SNP members eligible to cast their votes.
Yousaf was announced as the winner at 2pm at the BT Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh. He will be officially voted in as first minister at Holyrood, the Scottish parliament, on Tuesday.
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