Candidate for IRC Board Post Protests Election Irregularities

Almost one-third of the candidates for the International Relations Council (IRC) board of directors violated IRC campaign bylaws during last week's election, a board candidate said in a letter distributed to IRC members.

Ten of the 31 candidates wrote policy statements for the IRC ballot longer than 75 words, Michael E. Kahaiyan '79 said in a letter distributed last week to some IRC members. IRC bylaws state that all candidates may submit a policy statement of 75 words or less to appear in the ballots, which are mailed to all IRC members.

The IRC should run the elections again, Kahaiyan worte, allowing the ten candidates to "shorten their statements, even though they were irresponsible to have submitted an invalid statement in the first place."

The IRC will not hold a second election, George Varughese '77, outgoing IRC president, said yesterday.

A new election would require three to four weeks to organize, leaving the new board members insufficient time to plan next fall's activities, Varughese said.

Varughese and Kahaiyan have since come to an understanding on the election irregularity, Varughese said yesterday.

"Mike was disappointed, but he understands the way in which I handled the situation," he added.

Kahaiyan was unavailable for comment.

Robert J. Boorstein '78, an IRC member, said yesterday that although the bylaw violation may have had a small effect on the election's outcome, he does not believe any of the candidates deliberately exceeded the 75-word limit.