Both Cyr and Sullivan said last night that there had been some discussion of the CCA possibly taking a fifth seat on the City Council, thus bumping an incumbent Independent. Both also said a fifth seat was possible in 1987, and Myers staked his candidacy on that possibility last year.

But Sullivan added, "My guess is that this won't happen," saying he thought the "balance on the Council will remain the same."

"If David and Saundra are not running, it increases the field of strong pro-rent control candidates substantially," said Cyr. With so many of these candidates running, he said, the CCA could "take an Independent seat" because people who previously supported Sullivan and Graham would now be free to vote for any one of the liberal candidates--whose vote totals might thus outnumber that of an incumbent Independent.

Referring to the city's proportional representation voting system, Cyr added that the "battle is at the end of the ballot" where candidates often gain or lose the last few seats by a comparatively small margin of votes.

Since City Councillor Thomas W. Danehy had the fewest votes among the Independents in the last Council election, he might be the "weak candidate" in next year's race, said Esther M. Hanig, chairman of the Democratic City Committee. Cyr agreed, saying "some of the weaker candidates could have real problems."

Like Sullivan, Hanig said she did not think next year's election would "change the rent control configuration" in the Council. Asked if she might run for City Council next year, Hanig answered, "I don't think anyone active in city government isn't thinking about it."