Scotland's governing Scottish National Party elected Humza Yousaf as its new leader on Monday after a bruising five-week contest that exposed deep fractures within the pro-independence movement.
The 37-year-old son of South Asian immigrants is set to become the first person of colour and the first Muslim to serve as Scotland's first minister since the post was established in 1999.
"Just as I will lead the SNP in the interests of all party members, not just those who voted for me, so I will lead Scotland in the interests of all our citizens whatever your political allegiance," he said in an acceptance speech at Edinburgh's Murrayfield rugby stadium. The SNP's 72,000 members narrowly chose Yousaf over Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, with lawmaker Ash Regan a distant third.
The three candidates to succeed her shared the goal of independence, but differed in their economic and social visions for Scotland. The gender recognition bill has been hailed as a landmark piece of legislation by transgender rights activists, but faced opposition from some SNP members who said it ignored the need to protect single-sex spaces for women, such as domestic violence shelters and rape crisis centers.
Yousaf has signaled he will act cautiously. He says he wants to build a "settled, sustained" majority for independence. Polls currently suggest Scottish voters are split about evenly on the issue.
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