London, Nov 20 (IANS): Scotland's first woman First Minister Nicola Sturgeon was Thursday formally sworn in as the head of the Scottish government at the Court of Session in Edinburgh.

Sturgeon, 44, had been deputy first minister of Scotland since 2007 when the Scottish National Party (SNP) emerged as the largest single party in the Scottish parliament election.

She was elected Scotland's First Minister by Scottish lawmakers Wednesday, succeeding the outspoken, veteran politician Alex Salmond, Xinhua reported.

Following the defeat of the party's campaign for Scottish independence in September, Salmond announced that he would step down as leader of the SNP and resign as first minister after a new leader had been selected.

In October, Sturgeon was confirmed as the only candidate for becoming the party leader, and officially became the SNP leader at the party's annual conference in Perth last week.

Stewart Hosie, 51, a Scottish member of the British parliament since 2005, succeeded Sturgeon as SNP's deputy leader.

Sturgeon is scheduled to take part in the First Minister's Questions session for the first time as head of her government Thursday.