The race to succeed Nicola Sturgeon has exposed deep divisions within her nationalist party
last month as head of the Scottish National Party and, by extension, as the First Minister of the Scottish government, both party and country are now in need of a new leader. The race to replace her has been whittled down to three candidates: Scotland’s health secretary Humza Yousaf, finance secretary Kate Forbes, and former junior minister Ash Regan.throughout her eight-year tenure, the race to succeed her has exposed deep divisions within the nationalist party.
To his supporters, Yousaf is a sharp communicator and the candidate best placed to continue the SNP’s electoral trajectory, particularly when it comes to matters of social justice such as the gender recognition reforms.
As a son of South Asian immigrants from Pakistan and Kenya, Yousaf has already made history as Scotland’s first non-white and Muslim cabinet minister. His victory in this race would be no less historic, making him not only the first ethnic minority leader of Scotland but the first Muslim leader of a major U.K. party.When Sturgeon announced her resignation last month, Forbes was tipped as a leading contender to replace her.
Perhaps the biggest challenge Forbes would face as First Minister is keeping her party together. If she were to win, “She would find herself in the situation of not having had the backing of most of her ministerial colleagues,” McEwen says. “That would be an added pressure.”Despite having been a government minister for four years before she resigned last year over her opposition to the Scottish government’s gender recognition reforms, Regan is the least-known of the three contenders.
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