Oxford Union plunged into fresh chaos as new president is kicked out over election fraud

The Oxford Union has descended into new chaos after sacking another president-elect, this time over alleged election fraud.

Catherine Xu, a Chinese graduate student at Exeter College, was dismissed after an internal court accused her of trying to get non-members to vote when she ran for the post.

This comes just a few months after the previous president-elect, George Abaraonye, ​​was also impeached for appearing on social media to celebrate the killing of US activist Charlie Kirk.

In the latest comedy, Ms Xu is accused of handing out union membership cards to non-members to vote on polling day, an allegation she denies.

The 200-year-old debating society convened a panel of former Union officials to hold an election tribunal after Ms. Xu won the election last month.

He was due to become president for the fall term until allegations emerged that he had given membership cards to non-members so they could use fake names to vote.

According to court documents published in student media, he was alleged to have ‘impersonated members of the public at the ballot box… by providing a vehicle and/or Oxford Union membership card… for the purpose of enabling other individuals to vote under their own names at the ballot box’.

The student newspaper Cherwell reported that during the trial, Ms. Xu distributed a pack of union membership cards to people who were not eligible to vote on voting day and told them to vote on behalf of other members.

It was reported that some students were caught voting using other members’ IDs on voting day.

According to Cherwell, Ms Xu allegedly discussed ‘finding people’ on the social media platform WeChat and sent a voice note to a friend a few days after the election, asking if she still had ‘cards’.

The court said this was ‘particularly damning’.

Following the process, Ms. Xu was dismissed and barred from subsequent elections.

Ms Xu denied the allegations against her and described them as ‘political drama’.

He told the Oxford Student website: ‘I strongly deny the findings against me and deny the existence of any conspiracy.

I am deeply concerned that the verdict imposes an extraordinarily harsh and disproportionate sentence even though it appears to be based on what I believe to be fabricated or materially unreliable evidence.

‘The union has seen increasing political drama and decisions based on disputed evidence in recent years and such a decision risks encouraging further anonymous and fabricated claims. ‘This case must undergo rigorous appellate review with full procedural fairness and transparency.’

This comes just months after previous president-elect George Abaraonye (pictured) was impeached for appearing on social media to celebrate the killing of US activist Charlie Kirk.

Before the election, Ms Xu had campaigned for more female speakers and said: ‘It is much bigger than the union scandals, but perceived dysfunction continues to overshadow the good. I want to help fix this.’

Ms. Xu is studying for an executive MBA at Oxford. He is understood to be originally from China, although he attended the £51,000-a-year private Chigwell School for boarders in Essex.

According to his LinkedIn profile, he previously worked as an investor in a venture capital fund and took courses at the London School of Economics, Imperial College London and two Chinese institutions.

He talked about being involved in the Oxford Union in an interview on YouTube last year, noting that some of the topics of discussion were ‘controversial’, such as the recent ‘cancel culture’ debate.

He said: ‘There are hot topics. That’s why we bring people from different backgrounds together to talk about the issues and invite current students to join the discussions.’

The association’s election tribunal normally consists of a panel of former officials of the association who graduated at least three years ago.

They are understood to normally include at least one legally qualified person, such as a practicing or retired attorney or solicitor, who will serve as president in most cases.

The Oxford Union draws its membership from students and alumni of the University of Oxford, but the two institutions are not formally affiliated.

The Oxford Union declined to comment.

The Daily Mail has approached Ms Xu for comment.