George Abaraonye declares 'I'm still president-elect' and claims Oxford Union vote 'compromised'

George Abaraonye has claimed his Oxford Union vote of no-confidence was "compromised" and claimed he was "still president-elect" of Britain's most prestigious debating society.

Mr Abaraonye, 20, insisted he remains the president-elect despite the overwhelming result of the vote and denied the extraordinary returning officer was "intimidated" during the counting of the ballots.

In a statement, the politics, philosophy and economics student told GB News he does not know "if or how many proxy votes have been tampered with".

The statement read: "This poll was compromised from the moment Moosa Harraj [president of the Oxford Union] 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 statement added that Mr Abaraonye "is and remains the 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," it said.

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS:

• George Abaraonye loses Oxford Union confidence vote in landslide after Charlie Kirk controversy
• WATCH: 'A disgrace!' George Abaraonye faces brutal GB News verdict after Oxford-Union ousting
• Oxford Union prepares to 'eject aggressive George Abaraonye supporters' in confidence vote after Charlie Kirk fury

Proceedings in the no-confidence poll were informally suspended yesterday after it was alleged in a notice seen by The People's Channel that extraordinary returning officer Donovan Lock had been subjected to "obstruction, intimidation, and unwarranted hostility" by a "number of representatives".

The president-elect, however, claims the reason for the vote being suspended was that Mr Lock said that there was "no result possible" due to "unresolved procedural concerns".

Mr Abaraonye stated: "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."

The student, who is said to have gained a spot at Oxford University after achieving A-B-B grades in his A-Levels, cited a number of union rules, which he claimed support the idea that he is still president-elect.

Mr Abaraonye also claimed the statement, which alleged the returning officer had faced "intimidation", was false.

He told GB News: "The notice posted by ERO [extraordinary returning officer] Donovan Lock on Monday, October 20, is false.

"The suspension of the count occurred at 6am on Monday after the ERO considered procedural concerns arising from the usage of proxy votes, raised by representatives from both sides, as well as fellow electoral officials, that the proxy vote verification was leading to a breach in the secrecy of ballots and the count.

"This led to the ERO informing all present that the 'further conduct of the poll and commencement of the count is untenable. No result is possible', He stated that a disciplinary panel would be 'constituted in consultation to determine a safe and democratically fair course of action.' The official recording will confirm this.

"It is therefore disappointing that the ERO has now issued a false statement that misrepresents these events. This not only harms the Society's interests, and undermines the legitimacy of the count, but has also undermined the safety of the representatives, whom he himself thanked for being respectful, understanding, and cordial.

"The ERO in subsequently resuming the count, is taking a course of action that he knows to be wrong and unsafe. I remain committed to a fair democratic process."

Mr Abaraonye, who became president-elect of the historic debating society after a vote earlier this year, faced controversy after comments he made in relation to the shooting of Charlie Kirk at a Utah Valley University event in September.

Conservative activist Mr Kirk was a Donald Trump ally and co-founder and chief executive of Turning Point USA.

Mr Abaraonye had appeared to send a celebratory message to a WhatsApp group chat after the news emerged that the father-of-two had been shot.

The leaked messages showed Mr Abaraonye writing: "Charlie Kirk got shot, let’s f**king go".

A separate message read: "Charlie Kirk got shot loool" - an elongated version of the "laugh out loud" acronym.

In a statement last month, the Oxford Union condemned his remarks and said complaints filed against Mr Abaraonye had been forwarded for disciplinary proceedings.

Former colleagues of Mr Kirk have vowed to lead a boycott of the society if Mr Abaraonye was not ousted following the confidence vote.

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter