The president-elect of the Oxford Union Society, the famous debating society in Oxford, England, has lost a no-confidence vote that was called after he celebrated the murder of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
President-elect George Abaraonye, who debated Kirk at the Oxford Union in May, appeared to share multiple celebratory remarks about Kirk’s shooting on WhatsApp last month, according to The Oxford Student. “CHARLIE KIRK GOT SHOT LET’S F***ING GO,” read one message. “SCOREBOARD FN,” read another.
Abaraonye released a statement after the messages were published saying that “those words did not reflect my values” and that they were “quickly deleted upon learning of his passing.” Still, he described the shooting as a “painful irony.”
More than 70 alumni of the society called for Abaraonye’s resignation over his comments. He declined to resign.
Over the weekend, a no-confidence motion against Abaraonye met the required two-thirds threshold to remove him from his position. The society published a notice on Tuesday that 1,228 ballots were cast in favor of no confidence, while 501 were against.
The notice said the president-elect was deemed to have resigned in accordance with the group’s rules.
However, the 20-year-old told the BBC he is disputing the no-confidence vote, arguing his critics had “unsupervised access” to the email account collecting proxy ballots.
Additionally, the count was informally suspended on Monday after returning officer Donovan Lock was apparently subjected to “obstruction, intimidation, and unwarranted hostility by a number of representatives,” according to a notice obtained by the BBC.
But Abaraonye claimed the count was paused 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,” he said in a statement to the BBC.
The statement went on to say “extremely serious issues” had been referred to the disciplinary committee on Monday afternoon and that 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.
Last month, former Oxford Union officers, which include former Cabinet ministers and sitting members of Parliament, signed an open letter calling for Abaraonye’s resignation.
“The Oxford Union is bigger than any one individual,” the group wrote. “It was founded to provide students with a free and productive space in which to discuss the pressing ideas of the day. Free speech is the Oxford Union’s foundational principle. For 200 years, the Union has resisted pressure–from the University, the Church, numerous governments, and its own members–to restrict discourse and debate. It stood the test of time through war, social upheaval, and generational change.”
“In this tradition, we do not question your right to speak your mind about Charlie Kirk’s murder; in this tradition, we do not join the calls that have been made for the university and your college to discipline you for your comments,” the group adds. “However, your public reaction to a fatal shooting displayed a callousness inconsistent with the Union President’s duty to safeguard free and open debate, rendering it untenable for you to accede to the Office of President.”
The “concerned alumni of the Oxford Union” note Kirk “became famous for his attempts to engage young people–especially university students–in civic discourse.”
“Whatever one’s political views, one cannot deny that Mr Kirk promoted free speech,” the letter adds. “He did not confine his mission to his own country: in May 2025, Mr Kirk visited the United Kingdom and spoke at both the Oxford Union and our sister society in Cambridge. In fact, you yourself debated Mr Kirk at the Oxford Union. As has been well-noted, he drew both respect and ire for his enthusiasm for debate on university campuses. It was whilst engaging in this mission that Mr Kirk was murdered.”
On Friday, Kirk’s former chief of staff Mikey McCoy also read an open letter to the Oxford Union on The Charlie Kirk Show Podcast.
The letter accused the union of becoming a place where “presidents of the union publicly celebrate the assassination of a political opponent.”
It went on to say that if Abaraonye were to remain on as president, 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.”
Meanwhile, on Saturday, as voting took place, the New York Post published a series of controversial leaked text messages in which Abaraonye said he “hates” the Oxford Union and also agreed with a student who claimed that Queen Elizabeth perpetuated “genocide.”
“If u hate it then you should run for the presidency!!!!” one Oxford student wrote in a group WhatsApp chat with members of the debating society, according to the report.
“Real lol that’s what I did,” Abaraonye replied.
In another message from the chat, a student said, “Bro low-key the day before the Queen died I did a massive post about her being implicit in genocide and famine and just a big thing about imperialism.”
“And then when she died so many people got angry at me because they thought that I somehow killed the queen because of bad vibes,” the student added.
“Based,” Abaraonye replied.
And in another message, he said he doesn’t “frequent white establishments” in response to messages about “Indie Fridays,” a monthly concert series at Oxford University.