Scotland's Chief Minister
Nicola Sturgeon
has partially saved the guy in the sexual harassment case against her predecessor, Alex Salmond, which has sparked an internal war in Scottish independence.
Prosecutor James Hamilton, leading an investigation into Sturgeon's role in the investigation, has determined that he
did not violate the ministerial code
during the long and difficult process.
The leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP) called on the opposition to abide by Hamilton's conclusions and withdraw requests for resignation.
The Conservative Party nonetheless plans to force a vote of no confidence on Tuesday, in light of another report that has found that
Sturgeon herself "misled Parliament"
about her contacts with Salmond while under investigation.
The former chief minister was acquitted a year ago of 13 charges of sexual harassment while in office until September 2014, when he lost the independence referendum by 10 points (55% to 45%) and gave the witness to his "protégé" .
Relations between the two deteriorated over time and bottomed out during the pre-trial stalking investigation.
The underlying issue has been the role of Sturgeon herself during the internal investigation into her predecessor, with whom she met privately on April 2, 2018. That quote could have been interpreted as an attempt to
interfere
in her role as chief minister. , and in that case have meant an abuse of power.
"All allegations against my performance have been considered and I am happy to learn that it has been determined that I did not violate the ministerial code," stated Sturgeon.
"In all phases of this matter
I tried to act with integrity
and in defense of the public interest. As I said at the time, I never considered having broken the rules, and these conclusions are now official and final."
Nicola Sturgeon now hopes to pass the final test in the Scottish Parliament.
The motion of confidence of the "Tories" does not have sufficient support from the opposition beforehand.
Everything seems to indicate that the independence leader will emerge, although with
her image notably deteriorated by the scandal.
During his statement in a parliamentary committee, Alex Salmond himself accused Sturgeon of orchestrating a
political vendetta
against him and openly questioned his leadership in advancing independence from Scotland.
The independence leader has promised a second sovereign referendum in the coming months, but first the SNP should achieve an absolute majority in the local elections on May 6.
The scandal has taken a toll on the popularity of Sturgeon, who just two months ago was
flying in the polls
for his handling of the pandemic.
During the last year there had also been the "sorpasso" of the supporters of independence in the polls.
Sturgeon now has six weeks to go to show whether to retain the electoral pull among the Scots.
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