Former First Minister of Scotland Alex Salmond has died at the age of 69

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LONDON – Alex Salmond, the former first minister of Scotland who spent decades advocating and nearly achieving Scottish independence from Britain, has died. He was 69 years old.

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Salmond, who was one of the most divisive figures in British politics at the turn of the century and who, as then leader of the Scottish National Party, brought Scotland to the brink of independence in the 2014 referendum, died in a lakeside resort in the North Macedonian city of Ohrid, local media reported.

“Unfortunately, Alex Salmond, former First Minister of Scotland, who was one of the panelists at yesterday's Cultural Diplomacy Forum held in Ohrid, died suddenly today,” said a statement from the office of former North Macedonian President Gjorgje Ivanov.

Tributes poured in from across the political spectrum, with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer of the Labor Party calling him a “monumental figure” in both Scottish and British politics.

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“He leaves a lasting legacy,” Starmer said. “As Scotland's First Minister, he cared deeply about Scotland's heritage, history and culture, as well as the communities he represented.”

Salmond was First Minister of Scotland from 2007 to 2014 and was leader of the Scottish National Party twice, from 1990 to 2000 and from 2004 to 2014. Salmond campaigned for independence in the 2014 referendum but lost. gaining 45% of the vote, before resigning from the top job and being replaced by his long-time ally Nicola Sturgeon. Their subsequent split dominated Scottish politics for years.

“I obviously cannot pretend that the events of the last few years which led to the breakdown of our relationship did not happen and it would not be right for me to try,” Sturgeon said after learning of Salmond's death. “However, this does not change the fact that for many years Alex was an extremely significant figure in my life. He was my mentor and for over a decade we formed one of the most successful partnerships in British politics.”

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In 2019, Salmond was charged with sexual assault and attempted rape following allegations made by nine women who worked with him as first minister or in the party. Salmond called the allegations a “deliberate fabrication for political purposes.” Salmond was acquitted following a trial in March 2020.

A year later he formed a new party called Alba – the Scottish Gaelic word for Scotland – which made a small inroad into Scottish politics and demanded a new referendum on independence come what may.

Current SNP first minister John Swinney said he was “deeply shocked and saddened by the untimely death” of Salmond.

“Over many years, Alex has made a huge contribution to political life not only in Scotland but across the UK and beyond,” he said. “He took the Scottish National Party from the fringes of Scottish politics into government and led Scotland so close to becoming an independent country.”

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Salmond said he learned to dream of an independent Scotland at his grandfather's knee and decided to join the SNP at university in 1973 when his English girlfriend made too much fun of his separatist sentiments.

Salmond's academic and professional experience has prepared him to be Scotland's most economically optimistic and visionary politician. At the University of St. Andrzej. he specialized in medieval history, which reflected his love of lost Caledonia, and economics. In his twenties, he worked as an economist, first for the British regional government in Scotland and then for the Royal Bank of Scotland, where he analyzed the country's most dynamic industry, North Sea oil.

In 1987, he won a seat in the British Parliament and within three years became party leader. In the late 1990s, he supported Tony Blair's Labor government in establishing a devolved Scottish Parliament in Edinburgh. This reform ended before independence, but it gave his homeland a taste of self-government for the first time since its union with England in 1707.

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Salmond then organized a very public forum in which to pursue his dream of full independence – his government had a range of powers, especially on social issues – and managed to persuade Conservative Prime Minister David Cameron's government to call a referendum. Until the results were known, it was thought that it was close to being decided.

Although the independence campaign lost, Salmond's SNP managed to capitalize on its support and has since dominated Scottish politics. Since then, the SNP has been the government based in Edinburgh, although it suffered a huge defeat in this year's UK general election, when it lost the vast majority of its seats in the House of Commons to the Labor Party. The next Scottish election is due to be held in 2026.

—Konstantin Testorides contributed to this report from Skopje, North Macedonia.

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