Student Society President-Elect Removed Due to Charlie Kirk Posts

Oxford Union debate
The activist and student leader participated in a discussion at the student society in May

The future president of the Oxford Union has been ousted from office after failing a vote of confidence that came after his disputed social media posts about Charlie Kirk.

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

Disputed Comments

The controversy erupted after the student reportedly shared messages on online platforms that appeared to welcome the killing of the American conservative figure, who was fatally shot while speaking at a university in Utah.

According to reports, one Instagram post reportedly read "Charlie Kirk got shot loool" - using an elongated version of the acronym for 'laughing out loud'.

The president-elect is also reported to have written in a WhatsApp chat with fellow students seeming to express approval of the event.

Election Results

The no-confidence motion took place over the weekend, with results announced on this week.

Society announcements showed that 1,228 ballots were cast supporting no confidence, while just over five hundred were against the motion.

The notice stated that the president-elect was considered to have resigned in following the Oxford Union's rules.

Society notice
The Oxford Union shared the outcome of the no-confidence vote on Tuesday morning

Election Controversies

Proceedings were informally suspended early on the previous day after the election official was allegedly subjected to "obstruction, intimidation, and unwarranted hostility" from multiple individuals.

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

His statement unequivocally denied that any person acting for George had participated in intimidating or disruptive behavior.

Continuing Controversy

The president-elect maintained that extremely serious issues had been referred to the disciplinary committee and that he remained president-elect.

His comment added that George was "proud and thankful to have the support of significantly more than half of students at Oxford" who supported a "secure voting process and oppose efforts to undermine the electoral process".

Opponents have said that any failure to remove him would "signal to the world that the Oxford Union has chosen ideology over integrity".

Conservative activist
Charlie Kirk was shot dead while speaking at a university in last month

External Reactions

On Friday, Mikey McCoy presented an open letter to the society on a related program broadcast.

The letter criticized the union of becoming a place where "student leaders publicly celebrate the killing of a political opponent".

The statement warned that if the student were to remain in post, 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 society had earlier criticized the student's comments after Kirk's death and stated that complaints submitted about him had been referred for official review.

The student leader had been one of several students to debate with the activist at the union in May.

Lori Pineda
Lori Pineda

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