Reneging on his announcement earlier this week that he would not actively seek re-election, Randall A. Fine '96, Undergraduate Council acting vice chair and secretary, announced yesterday that he was back in the race.

Fine said last night that he decided to restart his campaign after his sister, council, colleagues and about 20 students--many of them strangers--urged him to run for a North House seat.

He also said his re-entry was "not a campaign ploy" to grab headlines and that the flip-flop probably hurt his contest because about two-thirds of all votes are cast on the first day of polling, which was Tuesday.

"What did I have to gain?" Fine said. "It didn't work for Ross Perot."

Fine said he changed his mind late Tuesday night. By Wednesday morning, however, he had postered North House with about 45 campaign posters and dropped flyers at the doors of all Jordan Terrace and house residents to counter his withdrawal announcement Monday, he said.

"As I have worked on all these issues, I have been under siege by a `newspaper' that despises me so vehemently that it will go to no end to smear my reputation," the letter stated. "It will be North House--and not The Crimson--that decides whether or not I will be an effective member of our student government."

The council elections, which began Tuesday, will last through tomorrow. Fine said he would probably need to garner about 30 votes to win a seat.

Fine announced Monday that he would cease campaigning for re-elec tion because of press reports that portrayedhim to be "monster." He said at the time, however,that his name would still appear on the ballot andthat he would accept a post if he won.

He added that he did not officially pull hisname off the ballot because his friends told himthat they "wouldn't talk to me if I did."

Fine, the subject of a cover story in today'sissue of The Harvard Salient, has weatherednumerous allegations of unethical behavior in thepress by fellow council members over his one-yeartenure on the council.

The accusations range from buying votes at lastyear's Republican Club elections to actingunethically in keeping a council-administeredgrant from a federal agency to him-self.

Credited with arranging for cable in theHarvard Union and having energy-efficient lightinginstalled as part of the "Green Lights" program,Fine is running on a platform proposing cabletelevision in undergraduate housing and bettershuttlebus service