Lanhee J. Chen '99 and Adam R. Kovacevich '99 were elected co-presidents of Harvard Model Congress 1999 Sunday night.

Chen and Kovacevich will serve as co-presidents for one year and are responsible for assembling an executive board before the end of this month.

Kovacevich attributed his electoral success to his "dedication to providing the schools that attend [the conference hosted by Harvard Model Congress] with a better product."

"We will improve the quality of communication with the schools, the quality of our staff training, and the quality of our publications," he said.

Chen said he intended to work to improve staff cohesion.

Both Chen and Kovacevich also emphasized their commitment to improving what they termed the "out-reach aspect" of the organization.

"Currently [the conference] is only accessed by kids from middle and upper-class backgrounds because of the costs of participating," Kovacevich said.

These costs include hotel expenses, transportation costs and conference fees.

Among suggestions from staff were a simulation for inner-city students, greater financial accountability, a push for a greater gender balance among staff and a fall staff retreat.

"We hope to involve a greater cross-section of people by holding a mini-Model Congress here in Cambridge," Kovacevich said.

Chen said he believed it was impor- tant for the organization to involve a diversegroup of students.

"[The students that traditionally participate]are not the only people that are going to be partof the citizenry in the future and it's necessaryfor us to involve them now," he said.

George B. Reed '99, David W. Humphrey '99, andKatherine T. Wen '99 also ran for co-president.

The outgoing executive board's votes andregular members' votes each count for half in theelection.

HMC runs an annual government simulation forhigh school students from around the country