Members of the Undergraduate Council elected Malcolm A. Heinicke '93 as the representative body's new chair last night.

Meeting for the first time this year, the 88-member council chose outgoing vice chair Heinicke over David L. Duncan '93 and Mark D. McKay '94. Council officials would not release the vote tally, but said the winner had to receive at least 45 of the 88 votes.

Heinicke, who pledged in his pre-election speech to "hit the ground running," said he plans to continue the direction of the previous board.

"If I can do half as good a job as [former Chair David A. Aronberg '93] did in the position of chair, I'll consider it a success," said the Eliot House resident as he took the gavel to run the remainder of the night's meeting.

Later in the meeting, Maya Prabhu '94 defeated Michael P. Beys '94 and Jennifer W. Groves '94 for the office of vice chair. The council also selected Carey W. Gabay '94 over Rico Reyes '93 as its new treasurer.

The council will elect a secretary at next week's meeting.

After the meeting, Heinicke said his immediate priorities are to get the council working on the grant process and to "fine tune the treasury."

"We must be more accountable financially," Heinicke said. "We do have bills to pay."

Before the council's vote, each of the three candidates presented five minute speeches and answered questions from council representatives.

Heinicke devoted most of his speech to a story about his losing an election in elementary school because he didn't know how to win his classmates' votes.

While his opponent years ago ousted him by passing out Twinkies, he said, he was better prepared for last night's election.

"If you want to serve people, you have got to have a plan. I do have a plan...and I have the energy to im- plement it and the ability to work withothers," Heinicke said. He has been criticized inthe past by some council members for pushing hisideas through the council and limiting othermembers' involvement.

Duncan, who has served on the councilthroughout his undergraduate career, said in hisspeech that if elected chair, he would increasedaily input on council decisions from members andtheir constituents.

Duncan also said he would work to improve thecouncil's image in the community and to "heal theinternal dissension" shown by controversies lastyear over the planning of the De La Soul and SpinDoctors concerts.

He said that Heinicke proved himself unworthyas a leader by "underpublicizing" the open councilelections two weeks ago.

"This year's election was the worst publicizedI've seen in four years at Harvard. We can'tafford to have an Undergraduate Council where onlythose in the know can run," Duncan said.