3 candidates confirmed in race for Scottish party leadership

By Burak Bir

LONDON (AA) - Three candidates have been confirmed as contenders, as nominations on Friday closed in the race to replace Nicola Sturgeon as the leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) and First Minister of Scotland.

Scottish Finance Secretary Kate Forbes, Health Secretary Humza Yousaf, and former Community Safety Minister Ash Regan will run for the race to become the next leader of the Scottish National Party and Scotland’s first minister.

"With the 12pm deadline now past, we can confirm that all three declared candidates for the leadership of the SNP – Kate Forbes, Ash Regan and Humza Yousaf – have passed the threshold of nominations by at least 100 SNP members drawn from at least 20 SNP branches," according to the newspaper The i, citing a spokesman for the SNP.

Yousaf and Regan announced their bids on Sunday, while Forbes declared her intention a day after her two competitors.

The winner will be announced on March 27, after a 14-day-long voting by SNP members.

Last week, Sturgeon announced her resignation from the country’s top political post, as well as from the helm of the SNP.

Sturgeon, who has been in office since November 2014, is Scotland's first female first minister and also the first woman to lead any of the devolved UK administrations.

Scotland has had a devolved parliament since 1999.

Since the surprise victory of pro-Brexiters in a 2016 referendum – with most Scots voting to stay in the EU – Sturgeon has pushed for a fresh referendum on Scottish independence, but the UK’s Conservative government has said it will not give permission.