The 37-year-old son of South Asian immigrants is set to become the first person of color 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.
Forbes, 32, is an evangelical Christian who has been criticized for saying that her faith would have prevented her from voting in favor of allowing same-sex couples to wed, had she been a lawmaker when Scotland legalized gay marriage in 2014. Yousaf has promised to push forward with the bill, which has been passed by the Scottish parliament but blocked by the U.K. government.