NICOLA Sturgeon is set to be formally elected as Scotland’s First Minister at Holyrood.

MSPs will vote at 2pm today, with the SNP leader expected to continue leading the country following the Scottish Parliament election earlier this month.

Willie Rennie will be challenging Sturgeon for the position. He told LBC that "in a parliament of minorities it is important that there is a challenge”. He added: “This should not just be an SNP cakewalk".

He ran also ran for the position last time around in 2016, losing by 63 votes to five, with 59 abstentions.

Scottish Tory leader Douglas Ross has also thrown his hat into the ring.

READ MORE: Willie Rennie makes pitch to replace Nicola Sturgeon as First Minister

Nominees for the position must put themselves forward by 1.30pm, ahead of the vote that is overseen by the new Presiding Officer, Alison Johnstone.

Candidates will have five minutes to appeal for support from other MSPs who will each be able to cast one vote.

The National:

READ MORE: Who could be in Nicola Sturgeon's new ‘streamlined’ Cabinet?

If there are just two candidates, a candidate is selected if they obtain a simple majority of votes in their favour.

Where there are more than two candidates, a winner would be elected if they exceed the total number of votes for all other candidates.

If they fall short of an absolute majority, the candidate with the smallest number of votes is eliminated and further rounds of voting take place until a candidate is selected.

You can watch the selection of the new First Minister on Scottish Parliament TV.