Unit­ed Na­tion­al Con­gress can­di­dates held lav­ish vic­to­ry par­ties at their re­spec­tive elec­tion of­fices af­ter the Lo­cal Gov­ern­ment Elec­tion on Mon­day night.

Neil De Sil­va, who won the Va­len­cia West dis­trict for the par­ty for the very first time, and Daryl Mo­han (who re­placed for­mer San­gre Grande Re­gion­al Cor­po­ra­tion chair­man Anil Juter­am), who won the Ve­ga De Oropouche dis­trict, were the main cel­e­brants.

Sup­port­ers and fam­i­ly mem­bers turned up at their elec­tion camps in their num­bers to cel­e­brate with the win­ning can­di­dates.

At Ve­ga De Oropouche, Mo­han was filled with joy as sup­port­ers danced and en­joyed light re­fresh­ments with mu­sic pound­ing by a pop­u­lar DJ.

Mo­han said he was grate­ful to Oropouche East MP Dr Roodal Mooni­lal, who walked with him dur­ing his cam­paign.

At Co­op­er­a­tive Street, San­gre Grande, which hous­es the of­fice of can­di­dates Ken­wyn Phillip (Man­zanil­la/Fish­ing Pond) and Calvin Seecha­ran (San­gre Grande South), the com­pound was filled with sup­port­ers pour­ing out in­to Co­op­er­a­tive Street.

Over at Rosseau Street, there were sim­i­lar scenes for Nas­sar Ho­sein, who emerged vic­to­ri­ous for a sec­ond con­sec­u­tive term.

In Va­len­cia, the cel­e­bra­tions were huge for Neil De Sil­va, a first-time can­di­date and win­ner of Va­len­cia West. He man­aged to wres­tle the area away from the PNM, en­sur­ing the UNC’s win there for the very first time.

De Sil­va said he was over­whelmed. He told Guardian Me­dia that he be­gan his cam­paign with con­fi­dence and be­lieves this was cru­cial to his vic­to­ry.

He said he worked hard and walked every street in Va­len­cia West and en­sured he lis­tened to what the peo­ple had to say. He was grate­ful for the sup­port of his fam­i­ly and UNC front­lin­ers Jack Warn­er, Khadi­jah Ameen and Jear­lean John.

Mean­while, Fer­oz Khan, the UNC Elec­tions Of­fi­cer and the man re­spon­si­ble for co­or­di­nat­ing the elec­tion in San­gre Grande, was elat­ed.

He said, “This vic­to­ry could not have been a bet­ter one in spite of the chal­lenges, which the UNC man­aged and had led to their vic­to­ry.”

In spite of the suc­cess, Khan ad­mit­ted that he was a bit dis­ap­point­ed with the re­sults for San­gre Grande North East can­di­date Dar­ren Tim­o­thy, who lost by eight votes. He said a re­count was re­quest­ed.