First Minister of Scotland elect its members, it is difficult for a single party to gain an overall majority of seats in the Scottish Parliament. The SNP gained an overall majority of seats in the 2011 election, and thus had enough numbers to vote in its leader, Alex Salmond, as First Minister for a second term. After the election of the Scottish Parliament, a First Minister must be nominated within a period of 28 days. Under the terms of the Scotland Act, if the Parliament fails to nominate a First Minister, within this time frame, it will be dissolved and a fresh election held.
William Hewitt (minister) William Hewitt (minister) William Currie Hewitt (born 1951) is a minister of the Church of Scotland and is a former Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland (2009–2010). He was born on 6 April 1951 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, Scotland and educated at Kilmarnock Academy and the University of Glasgow. He graduated with the degree of Bachelor of Divinity from the University of Glasgow in 1974. He was minister at Westburn Parish Church in Greenock, Scotland until 2012 and was the first serving minister of a church in Greenock ever to become Moderator. He was ordained in 1977,