Humza Yousaf has been named the SNP’s new leader. He is Scotland’s youngest first minister and the first from a minority ethnic group to hold the position.
He was first elected as a Glasgow region MSP in 2011 and took his oath to the Queen in both English and Urdu. When he was re-elected in 2016, he wore both a kilt and a sherwani to represent his Scottish and Pakistani heritage.
In 2012, Mr Yousaf became the first Muslim to be appointed to the Scottish government. Prior to this, he worked as an office manager for the SNP’s Bashir Ahmad, the first MSP of Asian and Muslim descent, as well as for other MSPs, including former leaders Alex Salmond and Nicola Sturgeon.
Yousaf won by a slim margin, with 52.1 percent of the vote to Forbes’ 47.9 percent. The party’s leadership election saw a 70% turnout.
Nicola Sturgeon resigned as Scottish First Minister and SNP leader in a hurried press conference last month. After succeeding Alex Salmond as First Minister in 2014, Sturgeon became the country’s longest-serving First Minister.
The SNP’s new leader was announced at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh on Monday after voting closed at 12 p.m. The next first minister will be chosen in a vote in Holyrood on Tuesday.
Yousaf stated that he was “honoured” to be elected.
In response to the election results, Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross vowed to hold Yousaf accountable “when he lets the Scottish people down” and urged him to abandon the SNP’s independence campaign.
In a statement, he said, “We encourage Jim to govern for all of Scotland and abandon his divisive plans to relentlessly push independence as the self-styled ‘First Activist.'”
“As the main opposition party, we will hold Humza Yousaf accountable if he fails the Scottish people.” Unfortunately, we have serious reservations about his ability.
“For the good of Scotland, we hope he does not lurch from failure to failure as he did when he was Nicola Sturgeon’s Health Secretary, Justice Secretary and Transport Minister.”
During the SNP leadership campaign, Mr Yousaf said Scotland could ditch the monarchy within five years of independence.
He insisted Scots should not be “shy” about the debate on the future of the Royal Family and said he is “very clear” he is a Republican.
The Scottish Tories accused Mr Yousaf of “shamelessly pandering” to anti-monarchist SNP members.