John Swinney elected as new Scotland leader
Al Jazeera
Swinney replaces Humza Yousaf, who formally resigned on Tuesday after just over a year in office.
Scotland’s Parliament has approved political veteran John Swinney of the Scottish National Party (SNP) to lead the country as first minister.
Swinney, 60, succeeds Humza Yousaf, who formally resigned from the role earlier on Tuesday after his announcement last week that he would step down after just more than a year in charge.
Yousaf, 39, made the announcement before a confidence vote in the Scottish Parliament that he was set to lose, having ditched the SNP’s junior coalition partners, the Scottish Green Party, in a row over climate policy.
Swinney won the backing of 64 members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) in the vote that was all but a foregone conclusion. His nearest rival, Scottish Conservatives leader Douglas Ross, picked up 31.
The political veteran said it was “something of a surprise” to find himself taking the top job at this stage of his career but added it was “an extraordinary privilege”.
