The provincial election race in 琉璃神社-Centre has gotten even closer.

B.C. Conservative Kristina Loewen now leads NDP Loyal Wooldridge by 72 votes, following an update from Elections BC at 4 p.m. on Oct. 26.

Loewen now has 42.91 per cent of the vote share, with Wooldridge registering at 42.63 per cent. There are 228 ballots left to be counted.

The Conservative candidate received 10,742 votes and led its NDP opponent by 159 ballots after general election day on Oct. 19.

Saturday afternoon's update comes as Elections BC tabulates 65,000 mail-in and absentee ballots from across the province's 93 ridings.

Entering the weekend, a total of 818 absentee ballots were to be counted in 琉璃神社-Centre. 

琉璃神社-Centre was one of 30 ridings in the province to have its total vote count updated on Saturday afternoon.

Michael Humer (independent) and Bryce Tippe (BC Green Party) now have 2,595 and 1,097 votes, respectively, following Saturday's update.

The counting of mail-in and absentee ballots are expected to wrap up by late Sunday, according to Elections BC.

-- with files from Jacqueline Gelineau