The new leader of the Scottish National Party, Hamza Yousuf, has become the first Muslim Prime Minister in the country after a parliamentary vote.

Yousuf won during the voting process held in the parliament yesterday, Tuesday, March 28, 2023, by a majority of 71 votes, after being elected the day before as the leader of the ruling Scottish National Party, succeeding Nicola Sturgeon who resigned from the position of Prime Minister as well as party leadership.

With Yousuf’s accession to the position of First Minister of Scotland, he became the first person from an ethnic minority to hold this position in one of the devolved governments of the United Kingdom, and the first Muslim to also lead a major party in the country.

Yousuf joined the Scottish National Party in 2005, and was also the first minister of South Asian descent, and the first Muslim minister in the cabinet to serve in the Scottish Government.

It is also worth noting that in May 2011, Yousuf was elected to the Scottish Parliament as an additional member for the Glasgow region when he was 26 years old, becoming at that time the youngest deputy elected to the Scottish Parliament.

Afterwards, the nationalists in Scotland chose him to become the new head of government after a fierce competition that revealed deep divisions within his party regarding policy and stalled independence efforts.

Who is Hamza Yousuf?

Hamza Yousuf began his journey with politics in Scotland at a young age, as he was not over twenty years old when he decided to join the Scottish National Party, starting a career crowned by his selection as party leader.

Yousuf became the first Muslim to lead a major party in Scotland, and the first Muslim and immigrant from an ethnic minority to lead a devolved government in the United Kingdom.

Yousuf described himself after being chosen as leader of the Scottish National Party, which automatically qualifies him to become First Minister, as "the happiest person in the world," and that this success is a "crowning" of the decision of his ancestors who came to the United Kingdom in a long journey from the Pakistani Punjab region, knowing little English.

While Yousuf believes his family might not have expected one of their sons to reach this position, this young man of Pakistani origin, aged 37, is preparing to take the oath to become Prime Minister.