Members of the Oxford Union were voting on Saturday in person in a poll of no confidence in the union’s incoming president George Abaraonye over online comments appearing to celebrate the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk.
A statement posted on X on Friday afternoon said that members were also able to vote by proxy with a 10pm deadline on the same day.
Mr Abaraonye said in an Instagram post that he had submitted a motion of no confidence in himself in an attempt 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”.
In another post published on Saturday, Mr Abaraonye told union members: “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.”
Mr Abaraonye, who became president-elect of the historic debating society after a vote earlier this year, faced controversy after Mr Kirk was shot and killed at a Utah Valley University event in September, in what authorities called a political assassination.
The 31-year-old father-of-two was a Donald Trump ally 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”.
In a statement last month the Oxford Union condemned his remarks, and said complaints filed against Mr Abaraonye had been forwarded for disciplinary proceedings.
In another Instagram post, Mr Abaraonye said he has been facing violent threats as well as classist and racist harassment.
“Some members have raised genuine concerns and done so respectfully,” he wrote.
“I am deeply grateful to those who reached out, met with me, and engaged in honest reflection.
“But their reasoned voices have been drowned out by bad-faith actors who have twisted my words, clipped my speeches, and fabricated intent to fit a pre-written narrative.”
In Oxford Union’s statement in September, it condemned the racial abuse and threats Mr Abaraonye has faced.
