Cambridge has re-elected two incumbent city councillors, is close to electing two more, but a wild battle is shaping up for the remaining five council seats.

According to yesterday's preliminary, unofficial count by the Election Commission, Walter J. Sullivan and Edward A. Crane '35 have met the quota necessary for election under the City's complex proportional representation voting system. Sullivan, the perennial front-runner, once again finished first in "number one votes," with an unofficial total of 4083. Crane received 3165 "number ones."

Ackermann

School committeewoman Barbara Ackermann is running a strong third, with a total of 2839. Another council challenger, Thomas W. Denehy, is fourth in the race. Both Ackermann and Denehy are almost certain to pick up enough "number two votes" to make it onto the Council.

All of the nine incumbent councillors finished in the top eleven in yesterday's count. Alfred E. Vellucci was fifth, Thomas H. D. Mahoney sixth, Bernard Goldberg seventh, and Cornelia B. Wheeler eighth. Mayor Daniel J. Hayes Jr. ran ninth, followed by Thomas Coates and William G. Maher.

Elimination

Today, the Commission will begin the complicated elimination and redistribution procedure which will determine the final results. They probably will not release the results until Saturday.

The positions of candidates can change radically during the re-distribution process. As low-ranking candidates are eliminated, their votes are given to higher ranking candidates who have not yet met the quota. Any one of the candidates below the top four could possibly end up out of the running if he fails to pick up many votes in the re-distribution.

"Proportional representation is an intolerable system, but everyone is always amused to see us down here throwing the ballots around the room. People really like to watch the rise and fall of candidates," on ballot counter commented yesterday.

"It's still anybody's ball game," an onlooker added.

Anti-war Petition

Most observers attribute Ackermann's strong showing to the voters who turned out to vote in favor of the Cambridge Neighborhood Committee on Vietnam's anti-war petition. The votes on the petition will not be couned until Nov. 28. A similar petition on the San Francisco ballot Tuesday lost by a 2-1 margin.

Perhaps the biggest surprise in yesterday's returns was the weak showing of incumbent Maher. He finished third in the last council race, but slipped to eleventh in yesterday's count.

The Election Commission will begin a preliminary count in the School Committee race today