Within two hours of the closing of polls UNC political leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar formally declared that she retained her seat with a little over 50 per cent of the votes tallied yesterday as thunderous applause erupted at her Siparia constituency office. Persad-Bissessar, dressed in a yellow silk blouse and black shirt, emerged from her office around 7.50 pm and entered the conference room at the top floor of her Penal Main Road, Penal, office where she made the declaration.
She beamed brightly as she clenched her fist in victory. Her competitor, the PNM's candidate Vidya Deokiesingh, was lagging a far cry behind the People's Partnership prime ministerial candidate. Persad-Bissessar paused from her electoral celebrations to wish one of her longest-serving activists, Molly Hosein, happy birthday as they cut a cake together. A sea of yellow greeted the UNC leader mobbing her as she entered the courtyard at the office to declare all roads led to UNC headquarters, Renzi Complex, Couva.