Wednesday, October 22, 2025 - The president-elect of the Oxford Union has lost a no-confidence vote after he came under fire for celebrating the sho0ting de@th of US conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
The motion against George Abaraonye had met the required
two-thirds threshold to oust the student from his position, the society has
announced.
It comes after Mr Abaraonye reportedly posted on social
media to seemingly welcome the attack on the US conservative activist in
September.
Mr Abaraonye is disputing the no-confidence vote, telling
the BBC people campaigning to oust him had "unsupervised access" to
the email account collecting proxy ballots.
Kirk, an influential right-wing activist and close ally of
US President Donald Trump, was sh0t de@d while speaking at a university in
Utah.
According to the Telegraph, Mr Abaraonye posted a message on
Instagram which read "Charlie Kirk got shot loool" - an elongated
version of the phrase 'lol' which means 'laughing out loud'.
He is also said to have posted in a WhatsApp chat with
fellow students appearing to welcome the incident.
Last week, Mr Abaraonye said he had submitted the motion of
no confidence in himself, with voting taking place over the weekend.
A notice published by extraordinary returning officer
Donovan Lock on Tuesday said 1,228 ballots were cast in favour of no
confidence, while 501 were against.
The notice stated the president-elect was deemed to have
resigned in accordance with Oxford Union's rules.
Proceedings were informally suspended early on Monday after
the returning officer was allegedly subjected to "obstruction,
intimidation, and unwarranted hostility by a number of representatives", a
notice said.
In a statement, Mr Abaraonye claimed the count had been
halted because electoral officials believed "no legitimate and true result
could be reached as a result of procedural failures".
"We unequivocally deny that any representative
appointed by George engaged in intimidating or disruptive behaviour," his
statement stated.
It said the "extremely serious issues" had been
referred to the disciplinary committee on Monday afternoon and that Mr
Abaraonye remained president-elect.
"George is proud and thankful to have the support of
well in excess of a majority of students at Oxford, who voted to have a safe
election and resist attempts to subvert democracy," his statement added.
The society said if allegations or complaints are lodged the
result shall be pending their determination.
Opponents have said any failure to remove him would
"signal to the world that the Oxford Union has chosen ideology over
integrity".
On Friday, Mikey McCoy, Kirk's former chief of staff, read
out an open letter to the Oxford Union on The Charlie Kirk Show podcast.
It accused the union of becoming a place where
"presidents of the union publicly celebrate the assassination of a
political opponent".
The letter said that if Mr Abaraonye were to remain in post,
Kirk's allies would "personally contact every American political speaker
who has ever graced the union's chamber and urge them never again to lend their
name, time or reputation to that institution that has betrayed its founding
ideals".
In a statement last month, the Oxford Union condemned Mr
Abaraonye's remarks after Kirk's death and said the complaints filed against
him had been forwarded for disciplinary proceedings.
It later issued a second statement condemning the
racial abuse and threats Mr Abaraonye had faced.
The president-elect was one of several students to debate
with Kirk at the union in May.
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