Final vote counts are in for both local ridings in Monday’s federal election.
In Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish, Liberal Jaime Battiste garnered 24,634 for 51 per cent of the vote. That’s almost 4,000 votes more than Conservative candidate Allan MacMaster at 20,714. Joanna Clark of the NDP received 1,914 votes, Ryan Smyth of the People’s Party got 337 and Independent candidate Rebecca Wall had 228.
In Central Nova, Liberal Sean Fraser received 26,179 votes; 52 per cent of ballots cast. Second place finisher, Conservative Brycen Jenkins collected 21,506. Jesiah MacDonald of the NDP had 1,650 votes, Gerald Romsa of the Green Party received 455, Charlie MacEachern of the People’s Party collected 330 while Independent Alexander MacKenzie had 236 votes.
An elector casting a ballot. (Elections Canada photo)
Voter turnout in both ridings was high; with 74.44 per cent in Cape Breton-Canso-Antigonish and 75.02 in Central Nova. That’s higher than the national average with 68.7 per cent of eligible voters in Canada casting ballots. In the last federal election in 2021,62.6 per cent of Canadians voted.