Kenny MacAskill succeeds Alex Salmond as Alba leader

Kenny MacAskill has been announced as the new leader of the pro-independence Alba Party.

The contest was held following the sudden death of party founder and former First Minister Alex Salmond.

MacAskill, an ex-Alba MP, narrowly defeated Ash Regan, the party’s sole MSP, in a two-way ballot for the role.

He won 1331 votes (52.3%) to Regan’s 1212 (47.7%).

Former Alba MP Neale Hanvey was elected deputy leader with 78% of the vote, defeating ex-general secretary Chris McEleny.

MacAskill, a former SNP justice secretary, defected to Alba in 2021 while serving as MP for East Lothian. He lost his seat in last year’s general election.

Regan defected from the SNP in 2023 following a failed bid to succeed Nicola Sturgeon as party leader.

A year previously she had resigned as community safety minister over the government’s plans to reform gender recognition laws.

The contest was triggered after Salmond, aged 69, died of a heart attack while attending a conference in North Macedonia in October.

Both leadership candidates claimed the former first minister and SNP leader would have wanted them to succeed.

The contest has been dogged by infighting. Last month, it emerged that McEleny had been suspended after being accused of gross misconduct.

McEleny, a former SNP councillor, launched a separate complaint against MacAskill, though the party said there had not been any disciplinary investigation.

Alba was set up by Salmond in the lead up to the 2021 Holyrood election. No party candidate has been elected at the ballot box.

At last year’s general election, 19 Alba candidates won a combined 11,784 votes.

The party currently has two councillors. Both were originally elected as SNP candidates.