Despite a more than 1,000 vote lead, Jack Mar remained mum while waiting for the call from Sara Ribeiro, chief election officer for Central Saanich before celebrating victory Saturday night.

"I'm not acknowledging that it's final," he said, at Bo's Grill in Central Saanich. Minutes later, Mar got the count that put a smile on his face as he shook hands with his supporters.

In the preliminary count Mar, the incumbent mayor of Central Saanich, reclaimed the seat with 2,606 votes, Christopher Graham received 1,437 and Sean McNulty 1,184.

"I wasn't worried," Mar said. "I said, let the people decide. And there was three of us, a far left, a far right and I was in the middle."

Three incumbent councillors were re-elected: Alastair Bryson (2,624) John Garrison (3,051) and Susan Mason (2,546). The other three seats went to Ron Kubek (2,550), Adam Olsen (2,744) and Terry Siklenka (2,379).

Incumbent councillor Zeb King (2,321) did not get a seat on council, nor did Jagmeet Grewal (1,335), Carl Jensen (2,305), Ed Owen (1,554) or Sue Stroud (1,901).

Central Saanich residents also voted on selection of referendum questions.

1. CRD Facilities: Do you support financial participation by the District of Central Saanich in a renovation/expansion of the Panorama Recreation Centre that provides a new swimming pool, financed by Capital Region debt totaling $8.998 million that will increase annual residential property taxes in Central Saanich by approximately $8.50 per $100,000 of assessed property value ($44.31 per household, on average) over 15 years?

yes-3,654 no-1,300

2. Municipal Facilities: Do you agree that the District of Central Saanich should give higher priority to its own projects such as a new public safety building (fire hall or combined fire hall/police station) and reconstruction of East Saanich Road?

yes-3,095 no-1,807

3. Financial Sustainability (Operational/Service Levels): Do you favour the District of Central Saanich increasing its revenues primarily through higher property taxes in order to maintain current operational levels of service?

yes-1,852 no-3,065

4. Municipal Infrastructure (Major Municipal Projects): Do you favour the District of Central Saanich increasing its long-term financial obligations (such as borrowing) which would need to be recovered through property taxes to finance necessary infrastructure projects?

yes-2,105 no-2,792