George Abaraonye loses Oxford Union confidence vote in landslide after Charlie Kirk controversy

George Abaraonye has lost his confidence vote at the Oxford Union in a landslide vote following a huge controversy about the president-elect's comments on Charlie Kirk.

Members of the union cast their ballots over the weekend, with in-person voting concluding at 8pm on Saturday.

Final voting showed there were 1,228 votes for no confidence and 501 votes in favour of Mr Abaraonye. A further 17 ballots had been either spoiled or void.

Mr Abarayone wrote on social media that he submitted a motion of no confidence in himself earlier this month in a bid to reclaim "true accountability and (reaffirm) that the Oxford Union must remain a place where students can make mistakes, apologise sincerely, and learn from them".

He told members on Saturday: "Today is your opportunity to affirm Free Speech, to stand against the racism of the Far Right, and to stand up for the principles the Union has championed for 200 years.

"Two centuries later, the same people who claim to believe in the Union are now acting in stark opposition to the Union's founding principles, by supporting a campaign of harassment, censorship, and abuse. We will not be silenced."

The 20-year-old was elected as the next president of the debating society earlier this year, but sparked controversy after writing: "Charlie Kirk got shot, let's f****** go," in a WhatsApp chat with fellow students.

He wrote another post on Instagram, reading: "Charlie Kirk got shot loool."

In his statement, Mr Abaraonye told GB News the "poll was compromised".

"From the moment Moosa Harraj and his majority on the Standing Committee brought compromised and untested Poll Regulations," he added.

"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."

• Oxford Union plunged into ‘complete and utter’ financial chaos amid Charlie Kirk scandal
• Oxford student who 'celebrated Charlie Kirk's killing' gives defiant interview ahead of crunch confidence vote
• Oxford Union's next president 'celebrated Charlie Kirk's killing'

Mr Abaraonye insisted he "is and remains the President-Elect per the Oxford Union Rules".

"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," he added.

"We equivocally deny that any representative appointed by George engaged in intimidating or disruptive behaviour."

The 20-year-old said the "reason for the suspension" was Mr Lock "saying 'no result is possible' due to unresolved procedural concerns".

"The official audio recording confirms this," he added.

"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 committed by the No campaign."

Mr Abaraonye continued: "Under Rule 47(h)(v), this purported result is suspended until that Committee and any Disciplinary Appeals Committee has resolved the complaint".

After claiming he "is and remains" the President-Elect, per the rules, a statement released by Mr Abaraonye said: "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," he said.

The Telegraph reported there had been widespread backlash over the student's remarks about Mr Kirk, which prompted dozens of scheduled speakers to pull out and a £500,000 donation to be put on hold.

People close to Mr Kirk had threatened to lead a boycott of the Oxford Union, unless Mr Abaraonye resigned.

The letter read out on The Charlie Kirk Show podcast, outlined how three of Mr Kirk's closest friends 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".

Donald Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence was scheduled to speak at the Oxford Union in the coming months.

Our Standards: The GB News Editorial Charter