Humza Yousaf was elected the first minority ethnic leader of the Scottish National party yesterday, in a narrow victory that will force him to confront deep divisions within his party.
He is almost certain to be confirmed as Scotland’s next first minister, after the Scottish Greens said they would back his nomination today, but he faces a significant internal challenge bringing the SNP’s warring factions together.
Widely seen as Nicola Sturgeon’s preferred successor, Yousaf defeated his closest rival, Kate Forbes, by a narrower than expected 52% to 48%, but only after second preference votes cast by supporters of Ash Regan, the candidate who came last in the first round, were counted. The turnout was 70%.
He secured fewer of Regan’s second preference votes than Forbes, but took enough to win. Even so, the size of Forbes’s vote demonstrated that Sturgeon’s policy platform has less support among ordinary members than thought. In the first round Yousaf led with 48% of the votes, with Forbes on 40%.
Forbes, a social and fiscal conservative, founded her campaign on blunt and highly critical attacks on Yousaf’s record as a minister, in which she denounced his repeated support for Sturgeon’s centre-left policies as “mediocre” and complacent.
In an immediate boost to his nascent government, the Scottish Greens said they would vote to confirm Yousaf as first minister today and would uphold the Bute House power-sharing agreement brokered by Sturgeon in 2021.
This story is from the March 28, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
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This story is from the March 28, 2023 edition of The Guardian.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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