Glasgow (United Kingdom), Mar 27 (EFE).- Humza Yousaf, regional Minister of Health, has been chosen as the new leader of the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) and will therefore become the successor to Nicola Sturgeon as head of the Scottish Executive.
Yousaf, who ran as the continuity candidate to maintain Sturgeon’s progressive line, won the majority support of the more than 70,000 SNP members, who voted in primary elections for more than two weeks.
With a participation of 70%, Yousaf obtained 48% of the votes as the first option, ahead of his main rival, the regional minister of Economy, Kate Forbes, who obtained 40% and the third in contention, Ash Regan, with 11%.
Due to the election system in the SNP, the second-choice votes that had gone to Regan were later added to the two candidates with the most support, resulting in a narrow 52% to 48% for Yousaf against Forbes.
If he receives the support of the Scottish Parliament tomorrow, Yousaf, 37 and a second-generation immigrant, will become Scotland’s sixth chief minister, after a primary election marked by tension between the candidates.
In his first speech as the new head of the SNP, he stressed above all the need to unite the party, which is facing a turning point after more than eight years of Sturgeon’s charismatic leadership and is full of doubts about the path to independence.
“In the last five weeks, we have been able to be competitors, but now we are one team, the generation that will win independence for Scotland,” Yousaf said at the event, held at Edinburgh’s Murrayfield Stadium.
The new SNP leader pledged to govern “in the interest of all Scots, regardless of their political preferences”, with the “immediate priority of protecting every citizen from the cost of living crisis”.
In his opinion, Scotland “needs independence now more than ever”, something that it will only achieve if the independentists defend their arguments “door to door”.
As the first Muslim Scottish chief executive, Yousaf welcomed the fact that “skin color and religion are not an obstacle” to governing Scotland and, in the presence of his Kenyan mother and Pakistani father, sent a resounding message: “We will celebrate the immigrants who contribute so much to this country.”
The Holyrood Scottish Parliament, where the SNP governs in coalition with the Greens, must vote tomorrow on Yousaf, who, if trusted, will be sworn in before the Court of Session in Edinburgh on Wednesday.