LONDON — Wales is set to get its first female leader after Eluned Morgan was chosen Wednesday to lead the governing Welsh Labour Party as it tries to emerge from scandal and division.
Morgan succeeds First Minister Vaughan Gething, who stepped down last week as party leader amid acrimony and a campaign donation scandal.
Morgan, 57, is currently the Welsh health minister and was the only candidate to replace Gething. She was announced as the new party leader on Wednesday and will become first minister after a confirmation vote in Wales' parliament, the Senedd.
The quick change of leader avoids a leadership contest and enables Welsh Labour to project unity after the chaotic end of Gething's tenure, which lasted just over three months.
''We've been through a difficult time, we're now looking to the future," Morgan said. ''I don't think it's been a pretty picture in the last few weeks. I think we've got to fess up and accept that's the situation."
Gething, the son of a Welsh father and a Zambian mother, made history in March when he was elected by Welsh lawmakers to head the Cardiff-based administration, becoming the first Black leader of a government in the U.K.
He faced criticism for accepting 200,000 pounds ($255,000) in donations during his leadership campaign from a recycling company whose owner had been found guilty of environmental offenses and breaching health and safety regulations. Another company with the same owner was given a loan by the government-owned Development Bank of Wales in 2023 when Gething was economy minister.
In June, Gething lost a nonbinding no-confidence vote in the Senedd, but said then that he would stay in his job.
