Zambian-born Vaughan Gething will become the first black European leader after winning the Labour leadership election in Wales with a slim margin to become the country’s next first minister.

Mr Gething received 51.7 per cent of the total votes to defeat Jeremy Miles, who had 48.3 per cent, paving the way for the former to become the first black leader of Wales.

Born to a Welsh father and a Zambian mother, the 50-year-old will take over from Mark Drakeford, who is expected to resign after his final First Minister’s Questions in the Senedd next week Tuesday, the BBC reported.

Mr Gething, who was born in Zambia’s capital city of Lusaka, will assume the office of Wales’ First Minister the following day. He has been in the Welsh Parliament since he was first elected in 2011.

In his acceptance address, Mr Gething said his victory marked the day “ We (Welsh) turn a page in the book of our nation’s history” – and also praised his opponent, Mr Miles, whose emergence would have made him Wales’ first gay leader. 

United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in his congratulatory message to Mr Gething on X, formerly Twitter, said the election was “a chance for a new Welsh administration to focus on what matters to people in Wales”.