The governing Progressive Conservatives will maintain the riding of Pictou West.

Marco MacLeod is the projected winner in a byelection held on Tuesday.

MacLeod jumped out to an early lead and never looked back. He won the seat by more than 3,000 votes with 29 of 29 polls reporting.

He runs a small lumber mill in his hometown.

Source: Elections Nova Scotia

The byelection was needed after long-time PC MLA Karla MacFarlane resigned in the riding.

The NDP’s Melinda MacKenzie came in second with 949 votes and Mary Wooldridge-Elliot for the Liberals was third with 548 votes.

Green Party candidate Clare Brett had 82 votes.

Voter turnout for the byelection ended up at 48 per cent with 5,738 ballots cast from a list of 12,018 eligible voters.

The unofficial results can be found on the Elections Nova Scotia website.