Paul A. Gusmorino '02 defeated four other candidates to take the Undergraduate Council presidency on early Saturday morning, winning the election with a larger margin of victory than the U.S. president-elect.

In an election that saw the highest voter turnout since 1997, Gusmorino had 1,634 out of 3,061 votes cast in the final round of vote allocation. His closest opponent, Stephen N. Smith '02, finished second with 1,118 votes in the last round.

Gusmorino's running mate, Sujean S. Lee '03, defeated four opponents to win the council vice presidency. She received 1,534 votes, compared to 1,022 for James C. Coleman '02 and 336 for Amias M. Gerety '02 in the final round of vote allocation.

Using the single transferable vote (STV) system, voters had the opportunity to rank each of the candidates. In each round, the lowest-ranking candidate is eliminated, and votes for that candidate are redistributed to those voters' second choices, until one candidate receives a majority.

The Election Commission declared Gusmorino the winner shortly after 1 a.m. Saturday. When the commission called Gusmorino at his victory party, the room--packed with supporters and bathed in pale orange, Gusmorino's campaign color--exploded in cheers and hugs.

"I'm excited about how good the council will be next year," he told cheering supporters.

Gusmorino and Lee ran on the motto of "We've done it before. We'll do it again"--referring to their past accomplishments on council, like the UC Books initiative and the first-year formal. Their future promises focused not on social issues but on pragmatic goals like salad at fly-by lunch and a CUE guide for concentrations.

"What we showed today is that a campaign of concrete ideas and experience can win," said Todd E. Plants '01, Gusmorino's campaign manager.