Oxford Union president branded ‘vindictive’ for rejecting vote for him to go over Charlie Kirk posts
Alumni of the Oxford Union have branded the president-elect a ‘vindictive’ after he refused to step down despite being voted for.
George Abaraonye lost a vote of no confidence today over social media posts he made celebrating the shooting of Charlie Kirk.
But he is now challenging the outcome, meaning he can retain his role while his complaint is dealt with under the Union’s rules.
Oddly, this means that, if the process is still ongoing, he could, in theory, take over the presidency in January as originally planned.
Tonight a spokesman for the Oxford Union of Concerned Graduates, a coalition of former military officers who campaigned against him, said his rejection of the result was ‘vindictive’.
They said: ‘The outcome should have been the end of Abaronye’s nonsense but he refuses to accept it.’ [it] and give up the presidency.
‘To do this reveals a lack of integrity and shows little concern for what the Union means beyond carrying the title for a term.
‘Comprehensive governance reforms are needed now, otherwise the institution will continue its rapid downward spiral into irrelevance.’
Oxford Union graduates have branded president-elect George Abaraonye (pictured) ‘vindictive’ after he refused to step down despite being voted out
Meanwhile, his Tory peer and Emeritus Professor of Theology at Oxford, Lord Biggar, said: ‘George Abaraonye’s tweet… demonstrated a terribly banal attitude towards political violence that is completely hostile to a liberal institution like the Oxford Union.
‘The fact that he is now fighting tooth and nail to save his own life, no matter how much it costs the reputation of the institution he is supposed to serve, underscores his unfitness for the presidency.’
The vote was held on Saturday and 1,746 Oxford Union members, both students and alumni, voted.
Of those, 1,228 voted in favor of a vote of no confidence, meaning the two-thirds threshold needed to oust him has been met.
It took more than two days for the votes to be counted due to problems verifying the identities of proxy voters.
After the results were announced at 6.17am today, Mr. Abaraonye said the results were “compromised” due to the unsafe use of proxy votes; The Oxford Union rejects this claim.
He said he had filed a complaint with the union’s disciplinary committee, claiming his enemies had been given “uncontrolled access” to an email account containing proxy votes.
‘We don’t know if proxy votes were tampered with or how many were tampered with,’ he said.
Sources said it could take months for the complaint to go through the internal court process.
A spokesman for the Oxford Union said this evening: ‘This claim is completely unfounded and false.’
A statement from Mr Abaraonye’s team said: ‘George Abaraonye is and will remain president-elect under the rules of the Oxford Union.
‘George is proud and grateful to have the support of the vast majority of students at Oxford.’
In a further twist, it emerged today that Mr Abaraonye’s allies have triggered another vote of no confidence, this time against current president Moosa Harraj, over his handling of the issue.
It is understood that the second vote will be held on Thursday.
The outrage against Mr Abaraonye began last month when he posted social media messages on the evening of September 10; one of them reads “Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s go” – a common celebratory phrase among Gen Z.
In an interview on YouTube last week, he claimed he was ‘misrepresented’ by the media because they did not realize the US influencer was dead when he posted the messages.
He said: ‘I reacted badly, I reacted too quickly. I didn’t know anything about the situation at the time.’
Following an appeal, Mr Abaraonye took the unusual step of triggering a motion of no confidence against him in a bid to restore ‘true accountability’, hoping it would allow him to remain in office with renewed legitimacy.
The Oxford Union is a 200-year-old discussion society for Oxford students and graduates, independent of the university administration.
Following the first ballot result, Edward Skidelsky, lecturer in philosophy at the University of Exeter and director of the Academic Freedom Committee, said: ‘George Abaraonye’s reaction to Kirk’s assassination was not illegal.
‘However, it would be unseemly for the head of a quarrelsome society to celebrate the killing of political opponents, and I am happy to see him constitutionally removed from that office.’
