World News | Humza Yousaf Elected as Scottish National Party’s New Leader

LONDON, March 27 (AP) – Scotland’s ruling Scottish National Party elected Humza Yousaf as its new leader on Monday, after a five-week contest that exposed deep rifts within the pro-independence movement.

The 37-year-old son of South Asian immigrants will become the first person of color to serve as Scotland’s first minister.

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Youssef, now Scotland’s health minister, defeated two other Scottish lawmakers in the race to replace First Minister Nicola Sturgeon. She unexpectedly stepped down last month after eight years as leader of the party and Scotland’s semi-self-governing government.

Yusuf, who will be confirmed as first minister by Scottish lawmakers on Tuesday, faces the challenge of uniting the SNP and restarting the Scottish independence movement.

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“Just as I will lead the SNP for the benefit of all party members, not just those who voted for me, so I will lead Scotland for the benefit of all our citizens, whatever your political allegiance,” he said at the Edinburgh said in his acceptance speech. Murrayfield Stadium.

The SNP’s 72,000 members narrowly chose Yousaf over Scottish finance minister Kate Forbes, with lawmaker Ash Regan ahead by a wide margin.

A powerful leader who has led the SNP to its dominance in Scottish politics, Sturgeon has failed to achieve her goal of taking Scotland out of the UK and has split the party over controversial transgender rights laws.

The three candidates to succeed her share independent goals but differ in their economic and social vision for Scotland.

Yusuf, 37, is widely seen as a “continuity sturgeon” candidate who shares liberal social views with the outgoing leader.

Forbes, 32, is an evangelical Christian who has been criticized for saying her faith would have prevented her from voting to allow same-sex couples to marry if she had been a lawmaker when Scotland legalized same-sex marriage in 2014.

Both Forbes and Reagan, 49, opposed legislation advocated by Sturgeon that would make it easier for Scots to change gender legally.

The gender recognition bill was hailed as landmark legislation by transgender rights activists, but was opposed by some SNP members who said it ignored the need to protect women’s single-sex spaces, such as domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers .

Yousaf has pledged to move forward with the legislation, which was passed by the Scottish Parliament but blocked by the UK government.

The SNP holds 64 of the 129 seats in the Scottish Parliament and governs in coalition with the much smaller Green Party. Smaller parties have warned the SNP could quit coalition government if it elects a leader who does not share its progressive views – meaning a Forbes or Reagan victory could split the government.

Yusuf faces the challenge of leading the independence movement out of the impasse.

Scottish voters backed staying in the UK in a 2014 referendum that was hailed as a once-in-a-lifetime decision. The SNP wanted a new vote, but central London refused to authorize it, and the UK Supreme Court ruled that Scotland could not vote without London’s consent.

Yousaf has said he will proceed with caution. He said he wanted to build a “stable, sustained” majority for independence. Current polls show Scottish voters are roughly evenly divided on the issue.

The fierce leadership contest has seen the SNP plummet in polls – delighting Labor and the Conservatives, who hope to win Scottish seats at the next UK-wide general election in late 2024. (Associated Press)

(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from a Syndicated News feed, the content body may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)