DHAKA: Scottish nationalist Nicola Sturgeon said on Wednesday she would run for the leadership of the Scottish National Party (SNP), a job that would make her Scotland’s most powerful politician.

After failing to secure Scotland’s backing for independence in a September 18 referendum, current SNP leader Alex Salmond said he would step down as First Minister and party leader.

‘I am announcing today my candidacy to be the next leader of the SNP and the next First Minister of Scotland,’ Sturgeon, the 44-year-old deputy leader, told reporters in Glasgow, Scotland’s biggest city, reports The Straits Times.

‘Independence is the best future for Scotland. And I am more convinced than ever that we will one day become an independent country,’ she said.

‘But that will happen only when the people of Scotland choose that course in the polling booth.’

BDST: 1618 HRS, SEP 24, 2014