The Scottish National Party, the ruling party of Scotland, has elected Hamza Yusuf of Pakistani origin as the new leader of the party. Hamza Yusuf will be the first Muslim and Pakistani leader of a British political party.
According to the British Broadcasting Corporation, 37-year-old Hamza Yusuf will replace the First Minister of Scotland, Nicola Sturgeon, who resigned last month after being the head of the SNP for 8 years.
After being elected SNP leader, Hamza Yusuf said it would be his greatest honor if he was elected first minister during the vote in the Scottish Parliament on Tuesday.
Hamza Yusuf first became a member of the Scottish Parliament from Glasgow in 2011 at the age of 26. He has also served as Minister for Transport and Minister for Justice in the Scottish Cabinet.
Hamza Youssef is currently Scotland’s Health Secretary and was widely believed to be the favorite to succeed Nicola Sturgeon, although he has not explicitly supported either candidate in the competition.
Hamza Yusuf’s father, Muzaffar Yusuf, hails from Mian Chinnu, Pakistan and moved to Scotland in 1960, while his mother was born in Kenya to a South Asian family.
