Humza Yousaf has been announced as the new leader of the SNP.
It makes him Scotland’s youngest first minister and the first ever person from a minority ethnic background to hold the post.
Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, Finance Secretary Kate Forbes and former community safety minister Ash Regan all took part in 16 hustings in their bids for the role.
Yousaf narrowly won, receiving 52.1 per cent of the votes to Forbes' 47.9 per cent.
Humza Yousaf, Kate Forbes and Ash Regan.
PA
Turnout in the party’s leadership election was 70 per cent.
Nicola Sturgeon resigned as Scottish First Minister and SNP leader last month in a hastily arranged press conference.
Sturgeon held the role of First Minister from 2014 after taking over from Alex Salmond, making her the country's longest serving First Minister.
Voting for the new leader of the SNP closed at 12pm on Monday and the announcement was made at Murrayfield stadium in Edinburgh.
Humza Yousaf's parents (centre) Muzaffar Yousaf (father) and Shaaista Bhutta (mother).
PA
A vote in Holyrood will take place tomorrow Tuesday to select the next first minister.
Yousaf said that he was "honoured" to be voted in.
“It is hard for me to find the words to describe just how honoured I am to be entrusted by our membership of the SNP to be the party’s next leader and to be on the cusp of being our country’s next first minister."
On independence, he said: “Leadership elections, by their very nature, can be bruising.
Yousaf said that he was "honoured" to take the role
Reuters
“However, in the SNP we are a family.
“Over the last five weeks we may have been competitors or supporters of different candidates.
“We are no longer team Humza, or team Ash, or team Kate, we are one team.
“We will be the team, we will be the generation, that delivers independence for Scotland.”
Reacting to the result of the election, leader of the Scottish Conservatives, Douglas Ross, vowed to hold Yousaf to account “when he lets the Scottish people down” and urged him to ditch the SNP’s campaign for independence.
In a statement, he said: “We encourage Jim to govern for all of Scotland and abandon his divisive plans to push independence relentlessly as the self-styled ‘First Activist’.
“As the main opposition party, we will hold Humza Yousaf to account when he lets the Scottish people down. Unfortunately, we have serious concerns about his ability.
“For the good of Scotland, we hope he does not lurch from failure to failure as he did when he was Nicola Sturgeon’s Health Secretary, Justice Secretary and Transport Minister.”
