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Jules Vasquez reporting
Patrick Faber strode into the convention under the propulsive percussion of a marching band.

He only needed the votes of 295 delegates to win the first deputy seat, but this is no low-key event, and the prospective winner must also have the appearance of a winner - and so Faber's entrance was calculated as a kind of political carnival.

Patrick Faber, Aspirant - UDP First Deputy
"While it is a race for the delegates and while yes we go house to house and my constituencies to persuade the delegates to go with us, there is the public sway. We must sway not only the massive of the UDP, but also the wider population, so that they can be convince that we are winning."

It was much more subdued inside the ITVET where the voting was happening. The party's 589 delegates queued up to vote across three rooms.

But, it is politics - and the proceedings can't be completely staid - here you see two party stalwarts Juliet Thimbriel - who is for Faber - and Herbert Panton who is for Saldivar - going at it in a shouting match that looks serious, but is mostly political gamesmanship. After all the takes were very high; the vacant post is deputy leader, but the winner will be leader:

Patrick Faber, Aspirant - UDP First Deputy
"We know that the Prime Minister has indicated that he will demit office in 2020. We all agree in the party that since the resignation of Mr. Vega, that in fact the best route now would be to elect a first deputy leader that we can groom and the Prime Minister can groom and that can hold on to the ropes and start learning the ropes, if you will, so that we can be unified in 2020 without any distraction."

So it was no game for the nearly delegates who voted on behalf of their whole party; this relatively small group of persons went through almost four months of incessant courting - all to come down to a single moment, a single "X" in a polling booth.

Both teams had strategies to lock in their delegates for convention day:

Patrick Faber, Aspirant - UDP First Deputy
"Well, we brought our delegates this morning and we are in communication with them. Some of them that came from outside of the country, we put them up. In fact we had about 175 delegates in hotel rooms last night. We had dinner dance last night, if you were watching and that dinner dance had in excess of 360 delegates and their spouses. The Biltmore was packed to capacity and that helped us to bring them from all across the country so they could be here this morning."

Anthony Boots Martinez, Ground Commander - Saldivar Campaign
"We have our command center of all delegates who support John Saldivar come to and we shuttle them by delegation in spurts and then when the line gets a little shorter, we will call and a two more delegation will come. You will see it as it goes during the day."

Jules Vasquez
"This is deliberate strategy."

Anthony Boots Martinez, Ground Commander - Saldivar Campaign
"Definitely. We have our own command center."

Jules Vasquez
"This is deliberate strategy so that you don't have contamination of your delegates."

Anthony Boots Martinez, Ground Commander - Saldivar Campaign
"You got that right brother."

Jules Vasquez
"All the delegates are being held right now at a neutral location."

Anthony Boots Martinez, Ground Commander - Saldivar Campaign
"Not being held, are being hosted. Being held, sounds like ransom - are being hosted at a neutral location and if you notice you will see from time to time a van come bring only John Saldivar supporters."

Indeed we saw them coming in tranches - blocs of voters that should have spelt disaster for Faber - after all Saldivar had the declared support of 18 constituencies. But Faber greeted them all the same, even though they had just de-camped from Saldivar's base. Arguably, Faber should not have lost all these votes, but he surely did get some of them - making it clear that the delegates did not vote as their Minister and area Representative had committed them to:

Patrick Faber, Aspirant - UDP First Deputy
"And then there are those now coming in Saldivar shirts, where their representatives might have forced them to put on that shirt, but a good many of them are going to support us."

Anthony Boots Martinez, Ground Commander - Saldivar Campaign
"And the capturing go both ways. Because we have one and two people even from ministers who - but the thing is that the defection is much more where there is a standard bearer, it is less where there is a minister."

Jules Vasquez
"Nobody can hold together 15. There are 15 individuals and while you can say what you wish them to do, at the end of the day it is their decision. How many of your 15 can you safely say to Patrick Faber, you will get X number of those 15?"

Elodio Aragon
"15 of them Jules."

Jules Vasquez
"Impossible."

Elodio Aragon
"Let me tell you something Jules, the way I lead is that I respect people. I've always told them, you all are big people, nobody can force or tell you what to do, because I would only be fooling myself to believe that."

As the afternoon wore on - it was literally 96 degrees in the shade and the hundreds of party supporters took shelter where they could. But while it was sweltering hot all around the compound, at 2:00 things were heating up near the entrance to the voting area when it was time for the alternates to step in.

With the voting coming down to an end at 3:00, everyone was just waiting for the result. By 3:15 - the celebration in the Faber camp had commenced - early word from the counting room was that he had a comfortable lead early.

By 3:30 it was confirmed if not official and the celebration pitched into high gear. John Saldivar - who we did not see on the compound all day - wasn't there to concede, but we did speak to his ground commander:

Anthony Boots Martinez, Ground Commander - Saldivar Campaign
"Definitely it was a surprise for me and it was a surprise I think for all of us who were supporting John Saldivar, but so it be."

Manuel "Junior" Heredia, Supported Patrick Faber
"We were all about touching the delegates, getting to the delegates one on one."

Jules Vasquez
"But then they had all the ministers supporting them."

Manuel "Junior" Heredia, Supported Patrick Faber
"It doesn't mean... I don't want to say the correct word, but the few that Patrick had are the most humble and honest ones and it counts. I am good for about 5-6 of them."

And when Faber arrived back at the compound, it was to wild applause, he had won by 88 votes, 336 to 248, a blowout in this small election.

From there he took his oath of office, and ascended to the post of first deputy, a post he had tried and failed to get three years earlier. He did it with only a small minority of support from his Cabinet colleagues:

Hon. Patrick Faber, First Deputy - UDP
"I wish to thank those constituencies that stood by me, that were with me, including my 13 colleagues, many who withstood many criticisms, many insults - they called them losers for believing in me and for believing in the kind of leadership that I offered, that of course put the people of this party before the ministers of this party."

"They told me the pressures that they were feeling in some instances from their representatives and they told me that they would come out here and support me today and I'll be honest, in the moments when you saw them in the opponents t-shirts, you did wonder whether or not they would really support you and in fact the tactic employed by my colleague to coral them, so to speak, at the Y. You don't know what is said to them in that time period. You know that sometimes there can be that kind of pressure."

"The Honorable John Saldivar fought a great campaign and as I have said before, I'll say it again, he is my friend, he is my colleague and we will not be responsible for any factions, any breaking up of our beloved United Democratic Party."

As you saw in the story, John Saldivar was not there to concede defeat - and, in fact, we did not see him at the ITVET compound all day. So have he and Faber talked? Well, via text Faber confirmed to us that they did talk today and agreed to meet tomorrow morning before cabinet.

Faber is expected to be named Deputy Prime Minister shortly.