Boston Mayor Kevin White surprised political experts by soundly defeating U.S. Representative Louise Day Hicks for first place in the September 14 preliminary elections for the office of mayor.

Despite predictions that the congresswoman would be the frontrunner in the election, White took first with a vote of 46,672 (33 per cent of the total), leaving Hicks with second place and 42,091 votes.

The White-Hicks victory in the preliminary elections puts their two names on the ballot and sets the stage for a tough rematch in the general mayoralty elections on November 2.

The last time Hicks and White competed was in the 1967 elections for mayor when the former Secretary of State White met defeat in the preliminaries, losing to Hicks by 13,000 votes. He went on to beat her in November by 12,429 votes.

After that defeat, Hicks ran a successful campaign for the office of U.S. Representative in the 1970 Congressional elections; and White lost an important race against Republican Francis W. Sargent in the 1969 gubernatorial election.

That election seemed to presage defeat for White in the 1971 mayoralty campaign since he failed to carry Boston. The city fell to a Republican--an unheard-of event in Boston politics. But on September 14 White surprised all predictions by placing first among six candidates.

The preliminary election was also important as it was the first time the newly registered 18, 19 and 20-year-olds could vote in a Boston election.

Poll watchers from the Globe reported a disappointingly small turnout of new voters although exact statistics are not yet available.

About 12,000 under-21 voters were registered in Boston since January more than enough to have made a critical difference in the Hicks-White campaign where fewer than 5000 votes separated the two candidates.

If anything the new voters in Boston may have had a conservative influence since they were most concentrated in West Roxbury and Hyde Park--two conservative areas which went for Hicks.

The decisive factor in the November election could be the total vote for City Councilman Joseph F. Timilty--the dark horse candidate who came in third with a total of 28,000 votes.

Timilty ran as the "alternative" candidate for those voters who could neither stomach Hicks nor face another term of an unpalatable White Administration.

In her post-election speech Tuesday night, Hicks--describing the Timilty vote as "conservative"--predicted that she would receive his vote and win the November election.

A poll run for the White campaign by Tully Plesser, the same man who does polls for Lindsay and Nixon, indicates that at least half of Timilty's vote will go to White.

This vote, added to the votes of the three other losing candidates--Councilman Thomas I. Atkins, Councilman John L. Saltonstall Jr. and Socialist Workers Party candidate John E. Powers Jr.--should provide enough votes to swing the November election for the Mayor.