On Thursday, police continued their search of Peter Murrell's home. Photo: Watty Chung. Runner-up Kate Forbes said following the arrest of husband Nicola Sturgeon.
Ms Forbes narrowly lost the vote to Humza Yousaf, who became Scottish First Minister last week. However, the legitimacy of the vote has been called into question due to recent events.
As the SNP's crisis deepened, Mr. Yousaf was forced to deny that the party was «in cahoots» with the police. when asked if the arrest of Peter Murrell, the former chief executive of the SNP, had been delayed pending the selection of a new leader.
He called the proposal a «conspiracy theory» but on Thursday night there were calls to annul the results of the management vote and repeat the process.
This came when Ms Sturgeon withdrew. an event at which she was to perform, as both she and her husband fell to the ground. The search of their marital home on the outskirts of Glasgow continued for a second day on Thursday, after which the police left in the afternoon.
Mr Murrell has been released without charge pending further investigation after spending 11 hours in custody on Wednesday.
One source close to Ms Forbes, the former Treasury secretary, told the Telegraph: «My personal opinion of course, it needs to be re-launched.
“There has been a significant change in circumstances. That people are saying it shouldn't be rerun means the party establishment didn't know about it, but that's completely unbelievable. People [in the SNP] will want to avoid a second vote because Kate Forbes will win, but Hamza will be left with this particularly ugly baby.”
The source told Ms. Forbes, a devout Christian. , had built its campaign on honesty, and now SNP members were «desperately looking» for it after his election as First Minister. Posted by Jeff J. Mitchell/Getty
The leadership election was sparked when Ms Sturgeon abruptly resigned in February, three days after it was revealed that police had contacted senior SNP figures as part of an investigation into the party's use of £600,000 in donations.
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Ms Sturgeon broke normal party protocol by announcing a reduced leadership contest, which meant Mr Yousaf had already been elected by the time Mr Murrell was arrested on Wednesday.
< p>Mr Yousaf, who ran as Sturgeon's successor candidate and is close to the former leader, denied that there was any pressure on police in Scotland to delay Mr Murrell's arrest.
He said: “It sounds like a conspiracy theory to me that we were in cahoots with the Scottish Police over the timing. The timing of any investigation is entirely up to Police Scotland — it is not determined by anyone else.»
However, he added: «There is no getting away from the fact that our members will feel bruised, not only given that it has been difficult election campaign, as is often the case with these internal competitions, but also given the events of the last 24 hours.”
Angus McNeill, a veteran SNP MP, agreed that the case for a re-run is growing.
He said: “One of the candidates [Humza Yousaf] has been declared a continuity candidate. Are we sure the members are now happy with their choice?”
Some members privately told him they regretted the way they voted, he said, adding: “It is increasingly being argued that should be repeated. Don't the SNP and leadership want to make sure they don't have a question mark hanging over them?»
Mr. Yusaf, meanwhile, tried to distance himself from Mr. Murrell, suggesting there was «no suspicion of guilt» . was entrusted to anyone else in the party, and he also acknowledged that the SNP he inherited was dysfunctional and in need of an overhaul.
He said: “Frankly, the management review, the review is how we do everything as transparently as possible, clearly necessary. Whatever happened in this case, it is quite clear that the management of the party was not what it should be.”
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