Three contenders will compete to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as Scotland’s leader, with the winner having to unite a divided nation and a party divided over another independence vote.
Humza Yousaf, a Sturgeon supporter criticized for his government record, is the bookies’ favorite to succeed her as SNP leader.
As nominations closed on Friday, he faced Kate Forbes, a rising star whose beliefs against same-sex marriage have already alienated her followers, and Ash Regan, who left the administration protesting gender recognition legislation.
Gay marriage, transgender rights, and abortion have dominated the campaign thus far. Sturgeon’s initiative to simplify legal gender transition was criticized.
Yet, whoever wins must restore the Scottish government’s day-to-day competence with constricted funds, while SNP members want them to map a path to independence.
“What the SNP need is somebody, a rare individual, who has all of those qualities,” Britain’s top pollster John Curtice told Reuters, adding that the fight over social issues had prevented candidates from laying out their vision for Scotland.
The party’s biggest challenge is winning majority support for independence in Scotland.
After losing an independence referendum in 2014, Sturgeon led the SNP as a progressive, pro-European voice for a Scotland that needed to break away from London to end years of Tory rule.
However, the UK Supreme Court blocked her attempt to call a new independence referendum without the UK government’s consent. Another row, when London blocked the gender recognition reform law after its passage through the Scottish parliament, revealed as many divisions over the policy within the SNP as it did with Westminster.
As she announced her departure, Sturgeon claimed she could not ask her party to adopt her contentious proposal to proclaim the next UK-wide election as a de facto referendum on independence if she was unclear about her future as leader.
Health Secretary Yousaf was “the continuity candidate,” according to Edinburgh University public policy expert James Mitchell.
He was criticized for managing a health service still recovering from the COVID-19 epidemic.
Yousaf has distanced himself from Sturgeon’s independence proposal and said the party should focus on arguing for independence rather than procedure.
His momentum comes from his key rival’s missteps.
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