The motion failed, with a 5-4 vote supporting Duehay's motion that the mayoral elections should stand.

Disputes Over the Election

City councillors as well as local politicos have voiced different explanations for the unusual sequence of events that led to Duehay's election.

In a Feb. 12 press release, Duehay stated his version of the events.

Duehay contends that Councillors Kathleen L. Born and Henrietta Davis had supported him from the beginning, while Triantafillou had supported only herself.

According to Duehay, Triantafillou gave an ultimatum to the CCA that either they vote for her, or she would "release" Reeves from his commitment to vote for her, which would result in an AFC member being elected.

Thus, Born, Davis and Duehay voted for Triantafillou, preferring a CCA candidate if Duehay could not win, the press release says.

Reeves, who had declared his support for Triantafillou in November, has a different take on what happened.

"All you have to do is look at the Monday of the election; the people on the CCA who voted for Katherine Triantafillou and then, before her face, changed their votes...lied to her and were unable to be truthful," Reeves says.

However, Robert J. Winters, a local political analyst, disagrees with Reeves' assessment of the situation.

"Everyone on the council knew that Triantafillou had, at best, two out of nine people supporting her," Winters says.

"It was ridiculous, because the CCA councillors didn't support her-never did," says Winters.

Winters is a preceptor in the Harvard math department as well as publisher of the Cambridge Civic Journal, an e-mail newsletter providing political analyses of city happenings.

Triantafillou could not be reached for comment.

Shortly after the January election, Triantafillou told The Crimson, "I believe [the mayoral election] should be done differently."