Swinney replaces Humza Yousaf, who formally resigned Tuesday after just over a year in the role.
The Scottish Parliament has approved veteran politician John Swinney of the Scottish National Party (SNP) to lead the country as first minister.
Swinney, 60, succeeds Humza Yousaf, who formally resigned from his role on Tuesday after announcing last week that he would step down after just over a year in the role.
Yousaf, 39, made the announcement ahead of a vote of confidence in the Scottish Parliament that he was set to lose, having abandoned the SNP's junior coalition partners, the Scottish Green Party, in a dispute over climate policy.
Swinney won the backing of 64 Members of the Scottish Parliament (MSPs) in a vote that was almost a foregone conclusion. His closest rival, Scottish Conservative leader Douglas Ross, scored 31.
The veteran politician said it was “something of a surprise” to find himself taking on the top job at this stage of his career, but added it was “an extraordinary privilege”.
“I am here to serve you. I will give everything I have to build the best future for our country,” he told Parliament after accepting the nomination.
Swinney, a party veteran who led the pro-independence SNP party from 2000 to 2004 when the Nationalists were in opposition, was elected unopposed as SNP leader on Monday.
He is seen as an experienced operator capable of bridging the political divide, which is key to the SNP being able to govern as a minority government.
Swinney must also unite his divided party, divided between those on the left who support trans rights and urgent climate action and those on the right who want to focus on issues like health and the economy.
He has said that, as well as promoting Scottish independence, he wants to eradicate child poverty.
But she inherits a difficult political legacy, with former SNP leader and ally Nicola Sturgeon embroiled in a party funding scandal and a challenging domestic political landscape.
Resurgent work
The SNP is expected to lose several seats in the UK Parliament to a resurgent Labor Party in the general election due this year.
The SNP currently has 43 seats in Westminster. Labor hopes a return to its former stronghold of Scotland will help it win an outright majority in the national vote.
British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, a Conservative, said he looked forward to “working constructively” with Swinney “on the real issues that matter to families: delivering jobs, growth and better public services for people across Scotland.”
Critics have accused the SNP, in power in Edinburgh's devolved parliament for 17 years, of focusing on the quest for independence at the expense of issues such as the cost of living crisis and education.
The party has struggled to regain momentum for another independence referendum since Scotland voted against leaving the United Kingdom in 2014.
Although the SNP has fallen in the polls since Sturgeon resigned in March last year, support for independence remains around 40 per cent, giving the party reason to be hopeful.
The SNP has 63 seats in the 129-member Scottish Parliament, two short of the majority, meaning Swinney will need the support of other parties to pass the legislation.
He has said he will not resurrect the defunct power-sharing deal between the SNP and the Scottish Greens and will address issues on a case-by-case basis.
