The provincial riding of Pictou West will remain Progressive Conservative.  In a by-election held Tuesday,unofficial results show PC candidate Marco MacLeod won comfortably, garnering 4,159 votes.  That’s 72 percent of all ballots cast.

The NDP’s Melinda MacKenzie finished second with 949 votes, followed by Mary Wooldridge-Elliot of the Liberals with 548, and the Green Party’s Clare Brett with 82.

There were just over 12,000 eligible voters in this by-election with 5,738 valid ballot cast.  Another 41 ballots were rejected.  That’s a voter turnout of 48 per cent.

The by-election was called following the retirement of PC incumbent Karla MacFarlane.