WILLIE Rennie has made his pitch to become Scotland’s next first minister.
The LibDem leader is hoping to oust Nicola Sturgeon to win the position as MSPs vote this afternoon.
Sturgeon is the overwhelming favourite after her party’s landslide victory in the Holyrood election.
But Rennie insists the formal vote in Parliament to decide who becomes first minister should not be a “cakewalk” for the SNP leader.
He unsuccessfully ran for the position in 2016, losing by 63 votes to five, with 59 abstentions.
In a video posted on social media, the LibDem chief said: “Today in Parliament, there’s an election to choose our next first minister. Just like 2016, I’m putting my name forward once again because in a parliament of minorities it’s important there is a challenge.
“I’ll be standing on my platform of putting recovery first, not independence, of cutting waits for mental health treatment, of an education bounceback, of an NHS recovery plan, of creating jobs for people desperate for work and taking action on the climate."
I am standing for First Minister in the vote in @ScotParl today #PutRecoveryFirst #MorningRun pic.twitter.com/MjS7LyGeiN
— Willie Rennie (@willie_rennie) May 18, 2021
Rennie added: “I’ll be seeking to bring everyone together to get us through this recovery, because we need the skills and talents of everyone to get us over these enormous challenges. But we also need to start listening to each other. The bitter divisions over the constitution means that people have stopped doing that.
“I want to bring the country together, I want people to listen to each other. But most of all, I want to put recovery first so we can get over this dreadful pandemic.”
READ MORE: Nicola Sturgeon set to be re-elected as Scotland's First Minister
The LibDems won just four seats at the Holyrood election, meaning they are not officially recognised as a party by the Parliament.
MSPs will elect a first minister at 2pm.
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.
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