Humza Yousaf has won the SNP leadership race after seeing off his rivals Kate Forbes and Ash Regan.
The Health Secretary, 37, is now set to be sworn in as First Minister of Scotland when MSPs meet at Holyrood tomorrow.
Yousaf's victory was announced today at an SNP event at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh.
In his acceptance speech, Yousaf pledged to lead Scotland “in the interest of all of our citizens” whatever their political allegiance.
"If elected as your first minister in parliament tomorrow, know that I will be a first minister for all of Scotland," he said.
"I will work every minute of every day to earn and re-earn your respect and your trust. I will do that by treating you, the people of Scotland, with respect.
"There will be no empty promises or easy soundbites when the issues in front of us are difficult and complex.
"Because government is not easy and I won’t pretend that it is."
Yousaf added: "I feel like the luckiest man in the world to be standing here as leader of the SNP.
"A party I joined almost 20 years and that I love so dearly."
Yousaf also paid tribute to the late Labour leader John Smith in his victory speech and said it was “the greatest honour and privilege of my life” to be the next first minister, should parliament decide to elect him.
Turnout in the party’s leadership election was 70 per cent.
For first preferences, Humza Yousaf took 24,336 (48 per cent), Kate Forbes took 20,559 (40 per cent) and Ash Regan took 5,599 (11 per cent) of the vote.
When second preferences were distributed in the second stage, Humza Yousaf took 26,032 (52 per cent) and Kate Forbes took 23,890 (48 per cent).
The Glasgow MSP was considered the favourite to succeed Nicola Sturgeon since she stunned the political world last month by announcing her resignation.
He racked up a huge list of endorsements from prominent Nationalists including John Swinney, Ian Blackford, Stephen Flynn and Mhairi Black.
But his campaign was rocked when his ministerial record was repeatedly questioned by Forbes during a stormy TV debate earlier this month.
Yousaf now faces a battle to reunite his party after serious splits were opened up during the month-long leadership race.
He faces the immediate question of whether to offer Forbes or Regan a position in his new Cabinet, which will be announced this week.
SNP headquarters also requires a new team after long-serving chief executive Peter Murrell resigned following a row over the publication of membership numbers.
The party has lost more than 30,000 paid-up supporters in less than two years.
Yousaf must also prepare the SNP to fight a looming UK General Election which could see the Tories finally being swept from Westminster.
While the Nationalists remain the most popular party in Scotland, recent polling has suggested Labour has been gaining ground.
Keir Starmer's party is desperate to win regain a foothold north of the Border and it has hopes of unseating at least 10 SNP MPs come election day.
The new First Minister also faces making a series of tough policy decisions closer to home.
He must decide whether to continue with the controversial deposit return scheme (DRS) in the face of mounting opposition from businesses.
And there is the question of whether to pursue legal action against the UK Government after it blocked the Gender Recognition Reform (GRR) Bill passed by Holyrood.
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