The Institute of Politics (IOP) began its first democratic election process last night, taking the first official steps towards implementing the structure of the IOP envisioned by its director, Sen. David Pryor.

Students who are elected in a vote that ends 6 p.m. today will serve in their positions for one semester. Results will be announced tomorrow morning.

Elections are being held for committee chairs, president of the student governing board and members of the director's task force. Students elected to the director's task force will work with appointed staff and former Student Advisory Committee (SAC) members to decide a permanent structure for the IOP.

All students who have attended at least one half of a committee's meetings this semester are eligible to vote for that committee's chair. Students who were members of SAC when it was disbanded, senior associates of the IOP and all students who are eligible to vote for at least one committee chair position are eligible to vote for the president and the spots on the director's task force.

Although former members of SAC had opposed the current election process, citing concerns that the campaign might lead to bitter personal attacks, the speeches that the candidates delivered last night were informal and friendly.

"I think it seemed very open and sincere," said Catherine McLaughlin, executive director of the IOP. "Students spoke about what they really thought and hoped for."

Seven candidates ran unopposed, five for chairs of the IOP's six committees, and two for positions on the director's task force. The task force will contain two first-years, two sophomores and two juniors in addition to members of the IOP staff and several SAC chairs who have graduated in the past.

The races for the first-year and sophomore slots were the most competitive. All students running for those positions gave two-minute speeches to the roughly 40 students in attendance.

Nine first-years ran for the two first-year position on the Task Force. Six sophomores ran for the two sophomore slots. Francisco J. Flores '02 and Eugene Krupitsky '02 were the only two juniors who ran for the junior positions on the task force, and will be automatically elected to the positions.

Staff member Benedict G. Dobbs, study groups and internship coordinator, helped organize yesterday's elections and said he was very pleased with the audience gathered to watch the speeches.

"I was very impressed with the number of people here," he said. "It shows a great level of dedication. This is what will take the IOP through the next year."

"The interest is a vital first step toward a new IOP," Dobbs added.

Though most candidates have prior experience with the IOP, several students had only limited previous involvement in the IOP.

Pryor has cited the "exclusivity" of the IOP as one of the reasons that he dissolved SAC and called for a new structure

Candidates hoping to serve on the director's task force spoke first last night, and were given the floor for two minutes each to deliver a speech or take questions about their candidacy. Of the six committees that will run the IOP's major projects next year, five committee directorships were unopposed. Shankar Duraiswamy '02 will be the director of the Harvard Political Union, and Beth Kytle '02 will become chair of the internships comittee. Joshua I. Weiner '03 will be chair of the Forum committee, and Heather A. Crossner '03 will be named chair of the community action committee.

Although Harpaul A. Kohli '02 was initially running for the position of study groups chair, he announced at the end of his speech that he thought his opponent, Sandhya Ramadas '03 was "completely qualified" to serve as committee chair, endorsed her and pulled out of the race. Ramadas is now unopposed for the position.

In the only competitive chair race,

Matthew I. Tomey '03 and Patrick C. Toomey '03 vied for the directorship of the fellows committee.

Travis F. Batty '02 opened his five-minute speech for the Presidency by distributing a two-page position statement outlining his ideas for the institute. He advocated increased outreach efforts within the Harvard community.

Batty's opponent, Robert F. McCarthy '02, discussed the importance of maintaining coherence of vision among the IOP's many committees.