Former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond dies at 69

Former Scottish First Minister Alex Salmondarchitect of the referendum for Scottish independence on September 18, 2014, has died at the age of 69, British media reported on Saturday. The leader of the Alba Party is reported to have died after giving a speech in North Macedonia.

Salmond was a British politician, leader of the Scottish National Party between 2005 and 2014 and member since 2015 of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom. Between 2007 and 2014 he was the First Minister of Scotland, at which time the referendum on Scottish independence was held. After win the negative voteSalmond decided to resign, both as Scottish First Minister and from the Scottish National Party (SNP).

The Scottish politician said in September that this nation’s secession from the United Kingdom “it is still possible”after ten years of the historic consultation. Salmond said the Scottish National Party (SNP) and Alba, which he created in 2021, should work together to achieve a majority in the Edinburgh Parliament in the May 2026 regional elections.

“We are not looking for an electoral pact, because the Scottish system does not require it, but one of mutual respect” to optimize the options of the respective candidates, he declared.

The SNP, now led by John Swinney, currently has 62 deputies in the regional legislature and Alba only one – out of a total of 129 -, but the SNP, in low hours after several internal scandals, lost 38 deputies, down to 9, in the British central parliament in the general elections on July 4.

Salmond, who resigned from the SNP leadership after losing the 2014 referendum by 45% to 55% – and later fell out with his successor, Nicola Sturgeon -, defended that independence is feasible because around 50% of Scots still support itaccording to surveys.