Humza Yousaf, Ash Regan, and Kate Forbes have spent weeks campaigning to become Scotland’s first minister and the new leader of the SNP. This afternoon, we will announce the winner.
The victor of the arduous competition to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of Scotland’s largest political party will be announced shortly.
Humza Yousaf, Ash Regan, and Kate Forbes have fought for weeks to become the new leader of the SNP and, ultimately, the next prime minister.
The party will announce the results of the two-week online vote at 2:00 p.m. in Edinburgh.
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The campaign was sparked by Ms. Sturgeon’s abrupt resignation after more than 3,000 days in the highest office in Scotland. Her reign made her the leader of the devolved government with the longest tenure.
In one of her final interviews while in office, she told that she had become so dominant in Scottish politics that she had become a “barrier to succession.
It was believed that approximately 100,000 SNP members would vote in this contest.
During this campaign, however, the SNP became embroiled in a dispute over attempts to conceal its dwindling membership numbers. It was subsequently discovered that they had lost 30,000 members in 18 months.
The party’s communications director resigned after it was discovered that he had provided false information to a publication.
Murray Foote was instructed to deny publicly the Sunday Mail article disclosing the loss of tens of thousands of members.
After accepting responsibility, party chief executive Peter Murrell, Nicola Sturgeon’s spouse, quit.
The contest has been acrimonious and contentious, with the candidates, two of whom are serving cabinet ministers, criticizing and assaulting the record of their government.
During a live television debate, the finance secretary, Kate Forbes, questioned the competence of her opponent, the health minister, Yousaf.
After admitting on television that she would have voted against homosexual marriage, Ms. Forbes lost significant support from SNP politicians. She also told that having children outside of marriage was ‘inappropriate’ according to her strong Christian faith.
Mr. Yousaf, who had criticized Ms. Forbes for her remarks, came under scrutiny when it was questioned why he missed the final, historic vote on homosexual marriage in 2014 at Holyrood.
Mr. Yousaf, who was a minister at the time, claimed he had an unavoidable engagement.
Alex Salmond, the first minister at the time, subsequently revealed that Mr. Yousaf, a devout Muslim, had requested to “skip” the vote due to pressure from religious groups. This accusation, which he denied, plagued his campaign for the first few weeks.
Critics ridiculed Ms. Regan for implying she would erect a “readiness thermometer” to determine if Scotland was prepared for independence.
She described the idea as a physical device that would allow Scots to track the second constitutional vote.
After the winner is crowned in Edinburgh mid-afternoon, Nicola Sturgeon will allegedly resign as first minister to King Charles.
On Tuesday, Holyrood will vote to designate the new SNP leader as the new FM. On Wednesday, they will be sworn in at the Court of Session in Edinburgh, marking the culmination of the ceremonies.
