The surprise resignation of Kezia Dugdale has left Scottish Labour searching for yet another leader.

The 36-year-old Lothians MSP had led the party since 2015 and the next holder of the office will be the party's ninth leader since the Scottish Parliament came into being in 1999.

During the same period the SNP and the Scottish Conservatives have only had three while the Scottish Liberal Democrats have gone through four leaders.

The party seem to be on the up after going from one to seven MPs in June but are the third force in Scottish politics behind the Tories and the SNP in both Westminster and Holyrood.

An early name doing the rounds as Dugdale's replacement was key Jeremy Corbyn ally Neil Findlay but he has ruled himself out of the contest and wished the eventual winner the "all the best for the future".

So if not Findlay then who?

Richard Leonard may not be a politician that much of the public are familar with but he is very well known inside the Labour party.

The Central Scotland MSP spent decades in the trade union movement before entering Holyrood last year.

Dugdale swiftly promoted Leonard into her front bench team as the party's economy spokesman.

Leonard is a member of the Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament and a committed supporter of Jeremy Corbyn's leadership of the Labour party.

He goes into the contest with a high-profile among party members and trade unionists.

As deputy leader of the party Alex Rowley is steering the ship until a replacement is found.

Rowley is a long-serving figure in the party, acting as its general secretary between 1998 to 1999 as well as two terms as leader of Fife Council.

The Fifer also has close ties to former Prime Minister Gordon Brown, previously serving as his constituency manager and election agent.

Anas Sarwar has only been in elected politics for seven years.

In that relatively short period of time he has been a member of two parliaments and deputy leader of the party.

He currently serves as the party's health spokesman.

Sarwar is considered to be on the centre-right wing of the party and has previously been active in the Blairite group Progress.

If those sceptical of the Corbyn project can coalesce around one candidate then Sarwar, if he wants the job, may sneak it.

If Monica Lennon goes for the job she will be the contest's outsider.

Lennon was elected to Holyrood for the first time last year and since then has campaigned for women in poverty to have better access to sanitary products.

The MSP backed Jeremy Corbyn in last year's UK leadership contest.