The Scottish National Party depute leadership election ran from 18 May to 8 June 2018. The election was contested for the party's new depute leader following the resignation of Angus Robertson in February 2018,^[1] after he lost his Westminster seat in the 2017 snap election.^[2]

Keith Brown was announced as the winner of the election on 8 June 2018.^[3]

Ballots opened on 18 May. The winner was announced as Keith Brown at the SNP conference in Aberdeen on 8 June.^[3][4]

Nominations closed on 13 April 2018, there were three candidates:

• Keith Brown^[5] Member of the Scottish Parliament for Clackmannanshire and Dunblane and Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Jobs and Fair Work
• Julie Hepburn,^[6] the only candidate who is not an elected representative
• Chris McEleny,^[7] a councillor who ran in the last depute leadership election

The status of a second Scottish independence referendum was considered as a significant issue surrounding the depute leadership election, with Chris McEleny and Julie Hepburn seen as supporters of such a referendum occurring earlier rather than later.^{[15][16][17][18]}

The depute leadership election was conducted using the single transferable vote system, with the results being declared on 8 June. Keith Brown was elected as the new Depute Leader of the Scottish National Party with a majority of 55.2% of votes cast in the second round of voting, beating rival candidate Julie Hepburn who secured 44.8%. Candidate Chris McEleny finished third with 16.2%, having been eliminated in the first round of voting.^[3][35]