🔗 Share this article

The president-elect of the prestigious debating society has been ousted from office after losing a vote of confidence that followed his controversial social media posts about the conservative activist.

The motion against the student leader achieved the necessary super-majority to remove him from office, according to an announcement from the organization.

Disputed Comments

The controversy erupted after the student reportedly posted messages on social media that appeared to celebrate the death of Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot while addressing a university in the United States.

According to sources, one Instagram post reportedly read "Charlie Kirk got shot loool" - using an extended form of the phrase 'lol'.

The student leader is also said to have written in a WhatsApp chat with other members seeming to welcome the incident.

Election Results

The no-confidence motion took place over the recent days, with outcomes revealed on Tuesday.

Society announcements showed that 1,228 ballots were cast in favor of removal, while just over five hundred were opposed the motion.

The announcement stated that the future president was considered to have resigned in following the society's regulations.

Procedural Disputes

Voting operations were temporarily halted early on Monday after the returning officer was reportedly subjected to "obstruction, intimidation, and unwarranted hostility" from several representatives.

In a response, Mr Abaraonye asserted that the count had been halted because electoral officials believed "no legitimate and true result could be reached as a result of process errors".

His statement unequivocally denied that any representative appointed by the student had participated in intimidating or disruptive behavior.

Ongoing Dispute

The student maintained that extremely serious issues had been referred to the governing body and that he continued as president-elect.

His statement added that George was "proud and thankful to have the backing of significantly more than half of students at Oxford" who voted to have a "safe election and resist attempts to subvert democracy".

Critics have argued that any decision to keep him would "signal to the world that the society has chosen ideology over integrity".

External Reactions

On Friday, Mikey McCoy read out an public message to the society on a related program broadcast.

The message criticized the union of becoming a institution where "presidents of the union publicly celebrate the assassination of a ideological rival".

The communication indicated that if the student were to keep his position, Kirk's allies would "personally contact every American political speaker who has ever spoken at the society and urge them never again to lend their name".

The Oxford Union had earlier criticized Mr Abaraonye's comments after Kirk's death and stated that complaints submitted about him had been forwarded for disciplinary proceedings.

The president-elect had been one of several students to debate with the activist at the union in May.