Nova Scotia’s Progressive Conservatives have picked up an extra seat in the legislature, while the NDP won one back in a pair of byelections on Tuesday.
Dave Ritcey earned a commanding victory in Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River, tallying nearly double the amount of votes over his Liberal counterpart Allan Kennedy.
The seat in the riding, which was previously held by former NDP member Lenore Zann, became available when Zann left to run for the federal Liberals. She was elected in the riding of Cumberland-Colchester.
Zann had held the riding since 2009. She won Truro–Bible Hill–Millbrook-Salmon River for the NDP in 2017 by a margin of 943 votes over the Progressive Conservative candidate.
Running for the NDP this time was Kathleen Kevany, while Ivan Drouin was the Green’s candidate and Matthew Rushton ran for the Atlantica Party.
The win boosts the Tories’ seat count to 18. The Liberals hold a slim majority with 26 seats, while the NDP have five. There are two Independents.
The NDP retained their seat in Cape Breton Centre with Kendra Coombes winning the district.
The seat became available when Tammy Martin resigned for health reasons.
Cape Breton Centre has been held by the New Democrats for most of the past 20 years.
Dave Wilton was the Liberal candidate for the riding, while Louie Piovesan ran for the Progressive Conservatives and Adrianna MacKinnon represented the Greens.
Official results for both byelections have not yet been recorded.
With files from The Canadian Press.