Student Society President-Elect Ousted Following Conservative Activist Comments
The future president of the prestigious debating society has been removed from his position after failing a no-confidence vote that came after his controversial social media posts about the conservative activist.
The motion against George Abaraonye achieved the required two-thirds threshold to oust him from his position, according to an announcement from the organization.
Disputed Comments
The controversy began after Mr Abaraonye reportedly posted messages on social media that appeared to welcome the death of Charlie Kirk, who was fatally shot while speaking at a college in Utah.
According to reports, one social media message reportedly stated "Charlie Kirk got shot loool" - using an extended form of the phrase 'lol'.
The president-elect is also reported to have written in a messaging group with other members seeming to express approval of the event.
Election Results
The no-confidence motion was conducted over the weekend, with results announced on this week.
Official notices showed that over twelve hundred votes were cast in favor of no confidence, while 501 were opposed the motion.
The announcement stated that the future president was deemed to have resigned in accordance with the society's regulations.
Election Controversies
Proceedings were temporarily halted early on the previous day after the returning officer was allegedly subjected to "obstruction, intimidation, and unwarranted hostility" from several representatives.
In a statement, the student claimed that the vote tally had been halted because electoral officials believed "no legitimate and true result could be reached as a result of process errors".
His response categorically refuted that any representative acting for George had participated in threatening or obstructive conduct.
Continuing Controversy
The student stated that significant concerns had been submitted to the governing body and that he continued as president-elect.
His comment added that George was "grateful and honored to have the backing of well in excess of a majority of students at Oxford" who voted to have a "safe election 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".
External Responses
On recently, Mikey McCoy presented an open letter to the Oxford Union on The Charlie Kirk Show podcast.
The letter accused the society of becoming a place where "student leaders openly applaud the killing of a ideological rival".
The communication indicated that if the student were to keep his position, supporters would "directly reach out to every U.S. political figure who has ever spoken at the society and urge them never again to lend their name".
The society had previously criticized the student's comments after Kirk's death and confirmed that concerns filed against him had been forwarded for disciplinary proceedings.
The president-elect had been one of several students to debate with the activist at the society in May.