The controversial President-elect of the Oxford Union has been dramatically sacked following outrage over his remarks over the death of right-wing US influencer Charlie Kirk.
A resounding vote of no confidence by the membership of the prestigious debating society in George Abaraonye resulted in a more than 2:1 majority, with 1,228 votes in favour and only 501 against, well beyond the two-thirds majority needed to force his resignation.
The 70 per cent no confidence majority means he will be deemed to have resigned, effectively having been sacked after calling the vote himself to try and shore up his support.
The 20-year-old undergraduate who debated Mr Kirk just months prior to his death, sparked outrage by posting a WhatsApp message appearing to celebrate the violence against the US influencer.
In a leaked group chat Mr Abaraonye said: ‘Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f****** go’.
Another message, believed to have come from his Instagram account, saw him joke of the matter: ‘Charlie Kirk got shot loool.’
He later deleted the message after learning of Mr Kirk’s death, and admitted he ‘acted poorly’ without ‘knowing about the situation’.
The returning officer, Donovan Lock, said in a statement: ‘The President-Elect is deemed to have resigned, subject to the procedural timelines.’
A resounding vote of no confidence by the membership of the prestigious debating society in George Abaraonye (pictured) resulted in a more than 2:1 majority
The Union has been in financial chaos with huge donations frozen following the row over Abaraonye’s comments last month.
Since then, sums of up to £500,000 have been put on hold and prominent figures have pulled out of speaking at the debating society due to the president-elect’s controversial comments, it has been reported.
But the messages have embroiled the union in scandal, with one official telling The Telegraph before the vote: ‘Honestly, it feels like it’s [the union] lost its identity. We’re used to controversy but this has been complete and utter turmoil. I’m worried if George Abaraonye stays, there will be no future for the union.
‘How can you have a free speech society where the incoming president celebrates the death of a free speech activist?’
It has been claimed several speakers have said they will be withdrawing from scheduled events and donors have threatened to pull their funds due to the politics, philosophy and economics student’s remarks.
Cancellations include; Candace Owens, a US right-wing commentator; Zia Yusuf, the head of policy for Reform UK; Calvin Klein; Serena Williams and Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand’s former prime minister.
A post on the X of a statement from the returning officer in the Oxford Union’s no confidence motion against president elect George Abaraonye
At the weekend, in an unusual step, the Oxford University student triggered the motion of no confidence against himself in a bid to reclaim ‘true accountability’.
There was a poll on Saturday for Oxford Union members to vote on whether to oust him from his role, which was due to start in January.
Mr Abaraonye had been hoping enough people vote in his favour so that he could continue in his role with renewed legitimacy, but the move backfired spectacularly.
The total number of votes cast was 1,746, with 1,228 (70 per cent) in favour of no confidence, and only 29 per cent supporting him. There were 17 spoilt, blank or void votes.
There was a campaign by a group calling themselves Concerned Alumni of the Oxford Union to get enough people to sign up to have him ousted.
Despite the result, George Abaraonye insisted in a statement to the the Daily Mail that the poll was ‘invalid’ and that he ‘is and remains the President-Elect’ and said the result was ‘suspended’, alleging ‘vote tampering’.
Mr Abaraonye’s statement said: ‘This poll was compromised from the moment [outgoing president] Moosa Harraj and his majority on the Standing Committee brought compromised and untested Poll Regulations.
‘Donovan Lock who ran the election shared around the Email account collecting proxy votes, including to personnel who campaigned to have George ousted, who had unsupervised access.
‘We do not know if or how many proxy votes have been tampered with. The Union’s Electoral Officials suspended the count because they believed that no legitimate and true result could be reached as a result of procedural failures.
‘We equivocally deny that any representative appointed by George engaged in intimidating or disruptive behaviour. The reason for the suspension was Donovan Lock himself saying ‘No result is possible’ due to unresolved procedural concerns.
‘The official audio recording confirms this, and the representatives for the Yes campaign have confirmed this too. Because of these extremely serious issues, on Monday afternoon before any ballots had been counted, the matter was referred to the disciplinary committee by the No Campaign. Under Rule 47(h)(v), this purported result is suspended until that Committee and any Disciplinary Appeals Committee has resolved the complaint.
‘George Abaraonye is and remains the President-Elect per the Oxford Union Rules. 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.’
