Oxford Union/YouTubeThe president-elect of the Oxford Union has lost a no-confidence vote after he came under fire for comments appearing to celebrate the death of 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 shot dead 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.
Oxford UnionProceedings 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”.
Getty ImagesOn 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 had been one of several students to debate with Kirk at the union in May.
