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7News was on the ground at the ITVET in Belize City from before voting started until after the winner was declared. Jules Vasquez reports:

When polls opened at 10:00, the ITVET had no political excitement or scenery - not even a sign in sight. Some delegates came in quietly on their own, into a muted and orderly atmosphere.

And while we saw a good many walk - in's out district delegates came on busses. We weren't allowed inside - but it was low key all around

We could see scarce signage on masks and an occasional stray placard or sign on the periphery of the action:

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Having one like this which is so quiet, no signage that I can see - it's a little bit odd."

Hon. Patrick Faber, Candidate for UDP Leader
"Well, yes, but it's a very odd time as well. We are in the midst of a pandemic and of course, we want to keep it as quiet as possible. You know that the UDP is a mass party, you know that we have tens of thousands of supporters and it's a painful thing for them. You know as I move around the country they wanted to come. They want to be right here where the action is."

The real action was on February 9th. What a contrast to today. A contrast except for the frontrunner candidates, there they were - back again 5 months later Saldivar and Faber. The Prime Minister was one of the early voters. He says he went to vote for the right candidate.

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Morning Mr. Prime Minister, who did you vote for?"

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"For the right candidate."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Sir, now you have said before when the whole Lev Dermen had not exploded yet that you do not feel that whoever accepted money, if it is one of these two should be able to run for leader, but Mr. John Saldivar did accept and here he is running for leader."

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"Well, I do not run a dictatorship. I might be first among equals, but we are all equal and there is a procedure and there is an organ of the party called the "ethics committee". Nobody made any complaint about aby of the candidates to the ethics committee, so the onus would have been on whoever wish to challenge the eligibility of any of the candidates to make a complaint and nobody did."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Sir, you realize that an outsider might be able to say your party is a laughing stock, this is the second leadership convention you all are having in 5 months."

Rt. Hon. Dean Barrow, UDP Party Leader
"What has happened now is emblematic of the very essence of democracy. We had that earlier convention, Saldivar won fair and square, we know what happened thereafter and I certainly led the charge to say to the Hon. John Saldivar in view of the revelations it cannot be right for you to stay on and he I think in the highest tradition agreed to demit office as leader elect. I thought that we would have been able to agree on a consensus candidate - it didn't happened, but that's because as you well know democracy is a tumultuous rambunctious affair and utterly unpredictable. Bottom line is that this is democracy. This is the way the UDP operates."

A very messy business and Faber says it could have been avoided:

Reporter
"How do you feel that you are here again and John Saldivar is a candidate?"

Hon. Patrick Faber, Candidate for UDP Leader
"To be honest with you, ideally, I would not have wanted come back here. I really think that those events indeed as the prime minister's words point to could have been used to disqualify minister Saldivar."

And really that was really what the convention was about - those who believe that Saldivar is unsuitable to lead a mass party, and those who just couldn't bring themselves to support Faber.

Hon. Manuel "Junior" Heredia, BRS - Area Rep
"Many delegates, many area reps., caretakers or ministers of government realize today that if we want victory there is only one leader that can bring victory to this party and that is Patrick Faber. Other than that we will lose."

Shyne Barrow, UDP Std. Bearer
"And the fact that Faber is the warrior, is the general that we need to go forward. But let's make no mistake, there is flip flopping here. John resigned and I think he should have stayed resigned. He resigned because he was a distraction, he resigned because his circumstances created a circus and that circus would only take away from our goal and our goal is to form the next government. So he resigned and I was one of the people that urged him to resigned. So my position is very consistent. If I urged him to resign then how can I now turn around and vote for him and support him in the face of me urging him to resign. Nothing has changed. Chester Williams is still investigation. Chester Williams hasn't come back and say boy the man clear of anything."

Reporter
"Do you think it's ethical for him to be running again this second round?"

Shyne Barrow, UDP Std. Bearer
"I think he should not even had put his name in and should have focused on Belmopan, because I do think that the people in Belmopan loves him and he will win his Belmopan seat. But I think to put his name back in at this time will be a distraction and that is why I am supporting Patrick Faber."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"So then with all you have said on the record about Mr. Faber, is he in your mind the lesser of two evils?"

Shyne Barrow, UDP Std. Bearer
"I wouldn't go that route. I believe that when we were battling, when we were fighting, it was tenacious, it was tedious and that is what war is and again, that allows me to recognize his abilities, to recognize his greatness."

Reporter
"Let's say hypothetically Saldivar came out victorious in this convention, do you feel that perhaps would be detrimental to the UDP?"

Shyne Barrow, UDP Std. Bearer
"Absolutely! That is my position."

Of course, we couldn't ask Saldivar about it. As is his style - he dodged all interviews

Reporter
"Mek we get a lee interview today leader?"

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"But then you will not give us afterwards. You have a long history of ignoring us."

Hon. John Saldivar, Area Rep - Belmopan
"I will give you an interview afterwards."

Not surprisingly his most visible supporter Gaspar Vega said the same:

Gaspar Vega
"My brother...when I come back."

We're still waiting for both, but we did speak to many veteran ministers who were very cagey with their support:

Hon. Edmond Castro, BRN - Area Rep
"I think we will win today."

Reporter
"Who is we, sir?"

Hon. Edmond Castro, BRN - Area Rep
"The party. The people will win. The people always make the right decision. I am supporting the winner."

Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez, Port - Area Rep
"The day for reckoning is here."

Reporter
"Do you feel that you needed to be here for a second round?"

Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez, Port - Area Rep
"It is what it is. I think nobody want to be as a party in difficult position like this. But it is what it is."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"How about boots Martinez, sir?"

Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez, Port - Area Rep
"So you want I tell you how I vote? I vote for a candidate and you all do the guessing."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Who will get the 286 [votes] needed here."

Hon. Anthony Boots Martinez, Port - Area Rep
"As far as I know in my analysis I think it is too close to call. You talk about delegates and for the most part they are chosen and so and control and so - I tell you standard bearers and representatives had some problems going one way or the other. This is unique just like how the list was unique, it was unique this time when literally people who went one way or the other said to their people man listen to the two sides and you all make up your minds."

Hon. Michael Finnegan, UDP Mesop
"At the end of the voting everybody will know who the winner will be."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Who do you support, sir?"

Hon. Michael Finnegan, UDP Mesop
"We have 3 persons contesting for the elections. At the end of the day whosoever win, the UDP wins."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"That can't be completely true, because you know that if John Saldivar wins the PUP will be rolling out the ads on Monday about him and Lev Dermen and Danny Mason."

Hon. Michael Finnegan, UDP Mesop
"Whosoever wins here today, the PUP will roll out their ads on them. We as a party have the opportunity to select our leader and who we select is our choice and we will stick by our selection whether it is Wilfred, John or Patrick Faber."

Of those, the truly odd man out is Wilfred Elrington. He entered the race, knowing he would lose:

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Area Rep - Pickstock
"I would imagine that my support would be very minimal."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Really, you don't think you will win?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Area Rep - Pickstock
"Never thought I would win."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"So why are you running, symbolic?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Area Rep - Pickstock
"Symbolic. I want it to be said later on that I did offer myself."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"But Mr. Elrington no one runs in politics to lose."

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Area Rep - Pickstock
"That is the normal and the unconventional person. I am always unconventional. You know that."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Very much so."

Reporter
"But when you look at the fact that you put forward that should you not win today's convention, you will not be contesting the general elections, are you going to take good on that promise, if I may?"

Hon. Wilfred Elrington, Area Rep - Pickstock
"Yes, I have promise the cabinet that will not serve under either of the 2, whoever wins and that means that I have come now to the end of my tenure as political candidate for United Democratic Party."

And, just like that, Wilfred walked - out of the race, out of the game. But, while he walked away the UDP faithful were lining up to get into the ITVET to cast their vote.

Patrick Faber and John Saldivar stood at the entrance greeting delegates one last time. These are party supporters who they have campaigned to twice this year. Even standard bearers on the opposing team. Polls closed at around 1:30. The counting began at 2:00, and by 2:15 the Faber camp erupted in joy. And the his campaign chairman confirmed it.

Roosevelt Blades, Chairman - Faber Campaign
"It has been very hard and he deserves it."

From emotion by his supporters to official by the chairman.

Michael Peyrefitte, UDP Chairman
"Patrick Faber received 286 votes. John Saldivar received 267 votes Wilfred Elrington received 10 votes and there were 4 rejected ballots. So given the official tally, the Hon. Patrick Faber is the new party elect leader of the United Democratic Party."

Faber took the oath, signed his name across the line - and stepped into his dream job:

Hon. Patrick Faber, UDP Leader - elect
"It is my life's ambition, as you know, to become the leader of this party and to be of service to this party. Of course the only think that can make that further complete is offering my service to the country as the prime minister of this country some day. I wish to thank minister Saldivar, he has been a long standing friend of mine and also a long standing rival given our ambitions coinciding in the way it does. I believe there is a place for John Saldivar in this party and I am sure that we will continue to work with him."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"When Mr. Saldivar won, you were dutifully on that stage clapping for him, visibly whimsy, you had just suffered a painful defeat, but you were on that stage. John Saldivar is not here, he was not here in 2016 when you won as deputy leader - he have bad style. I have to say it because from the media's perspective we feel..."

Hon. Patrick Faber, UDP Leader - elect
"I just told you that the first order of business would be to unite the party. It wouldnt be fair for me to criticize the man right now."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"But out of unity is that you must be magnanimous."

Hon. Patrick Faber, UDP Leader - elect
"Then you will do that criticism for me today, but that is my colleague and I intend to call him, in fact as soon as I get an opportunity and the mending of fences."

Reporter
"What is now with the honorable Sedi Elrington and Gas Vega and others who have vowed that they will not serve under your leadership?"

Hon. Patrick Faber, UDP Leader - elect
"As I said my first task is going to be to reach out and try to form this unity. So it has to be a moment of healing and I am hoping that the healing will be quick, but as it relates to my colleagues I will tell you now, I will make every effort possible to sit with them and to talk with them and to try to see if we can work together forward."

And so now as leader elect, Patrick Faber will have to move beyond this small circle of allies - and forge unity with embittered adversaries in a party wounded and divided.