Pakistan-Origin Humza Yousaf To Be Scotland's Next Leader. All About Country's First Muslim Cabinet Minister

Humza Yousaf will become Scotland's youngest first minister and the first person from a minority ethnic background to hold the position.

Humza Yousaf narrowly defeated Nicola Sturgeon to become Scotland's first minister and SNP leader by a margin of just over 2,000 votes, reported news agency Reuters. After the result was announced at Edinburgh's Murrayfield Stadium, the 37-year-old will become Scotland's youngest first minister and the first person from a minority ethnic background to hold the position.

After a fiercely contested election that revealed deep policy divisions and a stalled independence campaign, Scottish nationalists elected Humza Yousaf as the country's next leader on Monday.

Subject to a vote in the Scottish parliament, the practicing Muslim will take over as head of the semi-autonomous government and succeed Nicola Sturgeon as leader of the governing Scottish National Party (SNP).  

After a six-week campaign in which the three candidates spent much of it criticizing each other's record in a series of personal attacks, Yousaf's victory was confirmed.

Arguments over the best way to implement social reforms like transgender rights and how to get a second independence referendum broke up the SNP's unity, which had been one of its strengths.

Yousaf takes control of a party with the primary goal of ending Scotland's three-century union with England.

In the first round, frontrunner Yousaf received 24,336 votes from members of the SNP. His main rival, Scotland's finance minister Kate Forbes, 32, came in second with 20,559 votes. With 5,599 votes, Ash Regan finished her government career because she was against proposed changes to gender recognition.

Yousaf, who is considered to be the front-runner to succeed Sturgeon, has emphasized continuity in her record, including her efforts to make it simpler for transgender people to obtain official recognition for their gender change.

Who Is Humza Yousaf?

Yousaf cited his own upbringing, in which he was born in Glasgow to a Pakistani father and a Kenyan mother, as examples of the inclusive, socially liberal, and multiethnic Scotland that the SNP has advocated for. Yousaf is the first and only Muslim cabinet minister in the Scottish government.

His mother was born into a South Asian family in Kenya, and Yousaf has frequently spoken about the racist abuse he has received. His father is originally from Pakistan and emigrated to Scotland with his family in the 1960s.

After allegedly receiving threats at the beginning of the leadership contest, he was forced to call the police, who arrested and charged a 25-year-old man and a 35-year-old woman.

Yousaf attended the private Hutchesons' Grammar school in Glasgow, two years behind Anas Sarwar, the leader of the Scottish Labour party.

After completing his studies in politics at Glasgow University, he worked for a short time in a call center before becoming Alex Salmond's aide and parliamentary assistant.

In 2011, Yousaf was elected as a list MSP for the Glasgow region. A year later, Salmond elevated him to the position of minister for Europe and international development.

He became transport minister in 2016 after defeating Labour to win Glasgow Pollok. This made him the first candidate from an ethnic minority to win a seat in the Scottish Parliament.