Oxford Union president survives ‘compromised’ no-confidence vote after his successor who ‘celebrated’ Charlie Kirk’s demise is ousted
The Oxford Union president has survived a no-confidence vote, just days after his successor was ousted for ‘celebrating’ Charlie Kirk‘s death.
A motion of no confidence against Moosa Harraj, who is heading up the debating society until Christmas, failed today.
Almost 1,300 ballots were cast, with 829 voting no and 449 voting in favour of the no confidence motion, the Union announced today.
The current president has recently become locked in a bitter war of words with George Abaraonye, who was set to take over in January.
However Mr Abaraonye himself lost a no confidence vote after a series of social media posts in which he appeared to celebrate the shooting of Charlie Kirk.
On Tuesday, the Union announced that a motion of no confidence in president elect Mr Abaraonye had been carried with 1,228 votes in favour, meeting the two-thirds majority threshold.
In a statement, extraordinary returning officer Donovan Lock said as the threshold for a motion of no confidence to pass had failed, ‘Mr Moosa Harraj accordingly remains president of the Oxford Union Society’.
There has been a row at Oxford Union over the no confidence vote in Mr Abaraonye, who has faced controversy for comments appearing to celebrate the shooting in the US of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
Moosa Harraj (pictured) will remain the president of the Oxford Union after surviving a no confidence vote
George Abaraonye (pictured) was due to take over in January, but lost a no confidence vote over social media posts
In a statement after the vote he said the poll was ‘compromised’ by ‘untested’ regulations.
He also claimed people campaigning to oust him had ‘unsupervised access’ to the email account collecting proxy votes.
Oxford Union has denied claims the poll was compromised.
In a statement on Tuesday Mr Abaraonye said a complaint about the process has been referred to the disciplinary committee and that he was still the president-elect until this was resolved.
The notice published by the returning officer says the president-elect is deemed to have resigned in accordance with Oxford Union’s rules, but adds that if allegations or complaints are lodged the result shall be pending their determination.
Mr Abaraonye, who became president-elect of the historic debating society after a vote earlier this year, faced controversy after Mr Kirk was shot dead at a Utah Valley University event in September, in what US authorities called a political assassination.
Mr Kirk, 31, was an ally of US President Donald Trump and co-founder and chief executive of the right-wing youth organisation Turning Point USA.
The Times reported that in one message to fellow students in a WhatsApp chat, Mr Abaraonye wrote ‘Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f****** go’, while another on his Instagram account read: ‘Charlie Kirk got shot loool.’
Posting on social media last week, Oxford Stand Up To Racism said Mr Abaraonye has faced a tirade of racist abuse online since.
Oxford Union’s statement in September condemned the racial abuse and threats.
