Humza Yousaf has been narrowly elected to replace Nicola Sturgeon as SNP leader and Scottish First Minister after a fiery five-week campaign.
The current Scottish Health Secretary defeated rival candidates Kate Forbes and Ash Regan on second preference votes in a ballot of party members on Monday.
At the age of 37 he will become Scotland's youngest First Minister and also the first person from a minority ethnic background to hold the post.
For first preferences in the STV system, Mr Yousaf took 24,336 (48%), Ms Forbes took 20,559 (40%) and Ms Regan took 5,599 (11%) of the vote.
When second preferences were distributed in the second stage, Mr Yousaf took 26,032 (52%) and Ms Forbes took 23,890 (48%).
The results were unveiled at Murrayfield Stadium in Edinburgh and follows a bruising campaign with Ms Forbes trashing her rivals record in Government during a televised debate earlier this month.
She told him: "Humza you've had a number of jobs in Government. When you were transport minister the trains were never on time. When you were justice minister the police were strained to breaking point.
"And now as Health minister we've got record high waiting times".
But speaking today Mr Yousaf said: "It is hard for me to find the words to describe just how honoured I am to be entrusted by our membership of the SNP to be the party's next leader and to be on the cusp of being our country's next first minister."
He paid tribute to Ms Forbes and Ms Regan, adding: "It's felt we've seen each other more than our respective families.
"You both have put in an incredible shift and I know that collectively we will work hard as part of Team SNP."
He stressed it was now time for the party to come together and deliver independence, admitting: : "Leadership elections, by their very nature, can be bruising.
"However, in the SNP we are a family. Over the last five weeks we may have been competitors or supporters of different candidates.
"We are no longer team Humza, or team Ash, or team Kate, we are one team. We will be the team, we will be the generation, that delivers independence for Scotland."
In a shock announcement last month Ms Sturgeon stunned voters with her decision to resign from the role she held for more than eight years.
She fought three general elections as leader but said she was passing over the baton in the country's "final" push for independence.
After the results on Monday, Ms Sturgeon paid tribite to all three candidates.
She added: "Most of all I congratulate Humza Yousaf and wish him every success. He will be an outstanding leader & First Minister and I could not be prouder to have him succeed me."
The Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar reiterated his call for the winning candidate to call a snap election at Holyrood, saying Mr Yousaf lacked a mandate.
He added: "This chaotic and divided party is out of touch and out of ideas".
But he also congratulated Mr Yousaf, adding: "While I question his mandate and the SNPs record, it is important to reflect on the election of what will be the first First Minister from an ethnic minority background.
"Regardless of your politics, this is a significant moment for Scotland".
Douglas Ross, who has led the Tories in the Scottish Parliament since August 2020, also congratulated Mr Yousaf on becoming the first leader of the SNP from an ethnic minority.
But he added: "We encourage him to govern for all of Scotland and abandon his divisive plans to push independence relentlessly as the self-styled 'first activist'.
"As the main opposition party, we will hold Humza Yousaf to account when he lets the Scottish people down. Unfortunately, we have serious concerns about his ability.
"For the good of Scotland, we hope he does not lurch from failure to failure as he did when he was Nicola Sturgeon's Health Secretary, justice secretary and transport minister.
Over 72,000 SNP members were eligible to vote in the contest and turnout was 70%.
