A hand-picked Conservative candidate with a criminal record is dropping out of the race in the riding of Halifax.

Rosamond Luke, executive director of the All Women's Empowerment and Development Association, was appointed to carry the party's banner in the Nova Scotia riding on Sunday.

Halifax is the only riding in the province without an incumbent. Alexa McDonough, who has held the seat for the NDP since 1997, is not running for re-election.

Luke announced Tuesday she was bowing out to focus on her job.

CBC News has learned that Luke was convicted of uttering threats in July 2006 and sentenced to 18 months probation. In June 2007, she was convicted of breaching an undertaking and fined $50. She also got an additional nine months probation.

Though criminal records are available to the public, sources told CBC News that local Conservative party officials were unaware their candidate had a record until Monday night.

Neither Luke's campaign manager nor the party's spokesman in Nova Scotia would comment.

Bill Rogers, a Conservative communications adviser in Ottawa, said Luke simply withdrew from the race.

"My understanding is that she has withdrawn, and the reason she has given is that she had a conversation with her employer, and she's gone back to her current job," Rogers said.

Rogers said he doesn't know if Luke told the party about her criminal convictions.

"I don't know anything about that," he said.

Luke said she was getting out of the race to devote herself to the promotion of immigrant women.

Luke refuses to speak about record

"I decided that my choice will be to do what's right for the people, for AWEDA, because we're just right at the stage of implementing the programs," she said.

Luke refused to comment when asked about her criminal record.

She was one of four candidates appointed by the party in Nova Scotia last week, rather than through the regular local nomination process. At the time, party officials admitted they faced challenges when finding candidates to run in the province's 11 ridings.

According to the Conservative website, the party has candidates in 10 of the province's 11 ridings and a candidate in Halifax is "coming soon."

The Tories currently hold two seats in Nova Scotia, the Liberals six, the NDP two and one is an Independent.

The Liberals issued a statement Tuesday confirming they will acclaim Catherine Meade, a lawyer with the Dartmouth firm Boyne Clarke, at a nomination meeting in Halifax on Wednesday night.

On Monday, the New Democrats chose legal aid worker Megan Leslie, who won the nod for the Halifax riding after two ballots at a traditional nomination meeting.

The riding of Halifax was taken handily by McDonough in the 2006 election, when she won by an 8,000-vote plurality, with the Liberals placing second and the Conservatives third.

With files from the Canadian Press