Newly-elected Undergraduate Council president MATTHEW W. MAHAN ’05, left, celebrates his victory with vice president-elect and running mate MICHAEL R. BLICKSTEAD ’05 at Kirkland House.

Undergraduate Council veteran Matthew W. Mahan ’05 was declared the next council president last night in an election decided by a much smaller margin of votes than last year’s race.

Michael R. Blickstead ’05, Mahan’s running mate, also won his bid for the vice presidency, becoming the first successful all-male ticket since popular elections began in 1996.

Mahan received 1,495 first-place votes, while his nearest rival, Aaron S. Byrd ’05 garnered 1,155 first-place votes.

In last year’s race, current council president Rohit Chopra ’04 bested David M. Darst ’04 by nearly 1,000 votes.

With a campaign platform mirroring many of Chopra’s priorities, Mahan and Blickstead—who with a combined 10 semesters of council experience were the most experienced of the tickets—pledged during their campaign to push for a student center and later party hours.

Mahan and Blickstead are not expected to steer the council from Chopra’s focus on student services such as funding parties and later keycard access to Houses.

Presidential candidates Joshua A. Barro ’05 and Jason L. Lurie ’05 received 252 and 115 votes, respectively.

Blickstead won the vice presidential race with 1,527 votes, while vice presidential candidates Divya A. Mani ’05, also a Crimson editor, received 1,113 votes and Christina L. Adams ’06 garnered 388 votes.

Only 3,077 students voted in the election, compared to 3,266 in last year’s presidential election.

Mahan and Blickstead received the news of their win in person by members of the Election Commission, which supervised the race.

The runner-ups were called and informed of the results.

Wearing official “Election Commission” jackets, members of the oversight body gathered in front of John Harvard statue at about 10 p.m. and headed to the headquarters of the Mahan-Blickstead campaign in the Kirkland Grille.

About 100 Mahan-Blickstead supporters joined the candidates to hear the news.

Mahan was called outside by a member of the commission and David I. Monteiro ’04, chair of the commission, told him that he would be the next president of the council.

The Mahan-Blickstead supporters screamed and chanted “Mike and Matt,” once they learned of the win.