 Felly, fy llwys yng Nghymru yn ddiwedっと'r ar ulgrifio ar gyfer, nid o'r ffordd i'r ddefnyddio'r gweithio. Fydda'i nhw'n mynd yw, i ddyn nhw'n mynd i'r ddefnyddio iawn i ddintôr a gallu ei hwn i ddintôr. Mae'r ddintôr wedi ddintôr yn gaelwch eu cyfynghau. Ond efallai, rwy'n handleb o'r oedd ddintôr wedi caelwch dros eich ddintôr yng Nghymru. Mae'r ddintôr ar y cyfnodau i ddintôr, ac mae'r ddintôr wedi ddintôr fod yn eu cyfnodau. A oes i ddintôr, gallwch i ddintôr o'r rôl, iddynt i'r diallu ddintôr o'r rôl o'r ddintôr of votes in room P 102, there the clerks will empty the ballot boxes and begin counting votes. I will announce the result of voting when the vote is counted and verified. To ensure that everybody's safety is in line with their Covid-19 protocols, could I ask all members to put their face coverings on now, please? All members can do that. Unless, of course, you have a medical exemption. Thank you, colleagues. I now declare the election of the Presiding Officer open and I'll ask the clerks to begin distributing the ballot papers. Thank you, colleagues. The voting for the Presiding Officer's election is now closed. The clerks will now take the ballot boxes to P 102 and I would invite any scrutineers appointed by the candidate to make their way to P 102 to observe the counting of ballot papers while observing social distancing. I can see to members that you may now remove your face coverings. Thank you, colleagues. In the election of the Presiding Officer, there was one candidate, Alison Johnstone MSP, and the number of votes cast was as follows. Yes, 97, no, 28, there were two abstentions, there was one spoiled paper and Alison Johnstone is therefore duly elected as Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament. Now, may I be the first to formally offer Alison my warmest congratulations? And as she is one of the members sitting in the main hall of the Parliament, may I ask our newly elected Presiding Officer to make her way to the debating chamber? Yes, and to take the place in her chair for the remainder of this meeting. Alison Johnstone, please make your way to the debating chamber. Thank you, everyone. That means a lot. I'm very, very grateful. I'm sorry that I didn't have a contest today, but I'm very proud to be in this position. For those of you who don't know, I joined Scotland Forward, the campaign for a devolved Parliament, before I joined the Scottish Green Party. That was back in the late 90s, and it's just such a very important place for me. I was then really fortunate to get a job with Robin Harper, who was the first elected green parliamentarian in the UK here in 1999. I've been in this building in a couple of guises, and it's been an absolute privilege to serve as a Scottish Green Party representative for Lothian region. I'd really like to take this opportunity to thank my little staff team of Sally, Dan, Richard and Helen. All of those who have contributed in any way during the years, because that team has changed. I'd also like to thank my Scottish Green Party colleagues and my party and everyone who's worked on such a fabulous election campaign. Here today I've been afforded a great opportunity and an incredible privilege, and one that I will never ever take for granted. Before I forget, I'd also like to thank my very patient and tolerant family. I think that you have afforded me the opportunity to take on a major challenge at an incredibly important time in Scotland's history. We face various challenges, we're just coming out of the end, we hope, although you know we hear worrying statistics, on a daily basis of a pandemic that has affected the lives of each and every one of us. We've lost loved ones, people have lost livelihoods, it's a very very challenging time for us all, and it's the duty of the Government and the Parliament to do everything that we can to make sure that those living in Scotland have the best lives that they possibly can, that we continue to work together and cease to reduce inequality and poverty. I want to encourage a culture of open debate in this Parliament. I think that we should be able to have that debate, but I'd like to do so in an atmosphere of inclusivity, mutual tolerance and respect. I think that it's absolutely fabulous that in this new session I see more diversity, I mean it's absolutely clear and that that is welcome. We see more people from minority ethnic backgrounds, I see far more women, this is fabulous progress, but we're not there yet. I know from Hustling with Pam Duncan Glancy that we have a real champion there for disabled people, but we can do better. I think that we need to get to the stage where this Parliament truly represents all people in Scotland, people from the LGBT community, so that we really mirror those who live in our streets and in our neighbourhoods. There are challenges ahead, of course. We are in the midst of the nature and the climate emergency, not as well as the pandemic, we have to tackle them. Our young people have done such a fabulous job bringing this issue to life. They've helped us, they've helped to ensure that we adults debate it properly on their behalf. We only have a few years to act and I think that it's really important that Scotland makes the most of the opportunity that COP26 will provide. I will do my very best to make sure that each and every one of you has an opportunity to best represent your constituents, your interests and everything that is important to you. I obviously recognise a lot of old faces, I mean experienced faces, and there are a lot of new faces too. We're all going to have an opportunity to get to know one another better over the next few weeks, months and years, but I just want to assure you that I will do my very best in this role, as Ken Macintosh has done. Obviously, it's very large shoes to fill, and I think that he's done an exceptional job for which I'm very grateful. I'm pleased to announce that this is an announcement of the election of the deputy Presiding Officer. Nominations for the positions of deputy Presiding Officer open at 9am tomorrow. Details of the process for submitting nominations will be set out in the business bulletin. Nominations must be submitted no later than 10am tomorrow morning, and, after the nomination period is closed, members will be notified of the names of the nominees, so I will resume this meeting of Parliament at 10.30am for the election of the deputy Presiding Officers, and I suspend this meeting of Parliament.