Members of the Oxford Union Society have voted against the no-confidence motion in President Moosa Harraj. 829 members voted against the motion, while 449 members expressed no confidence in the President.
The motion of no confidence was posted on Friday 17th October, the day before the vote of no confidence in President-Elect George Abaraonye, and gathered the necessary 150 signatures.
Will Lawson, Secretary’s Committee member, told Cherwell: “I moved the motion because I was shocked at what the Union has become in the last two terms. In that time, the President has abused his power, disregarded the democratic process, and has suppressed the voices of those who speak out against him.”
Proxy voting for any and all members was allowed for the poll again. The procedure was first reintroduced for President-Elect George Abaraonye’s vote of no confidence after it was last used in the COVID-19 pandemic. The legitimacy of the procedure raised concerns.
Speaking about the proxy voting in a poll on President-Elect, Abaraonye’s spokesperson told Cherwell: “This poll was compromised from the moment Moosa Harraj and his majority on the Standing Committee brought compromised and untested Poll Regulations.” They cited issues in collecting proxy votes and believe that “we do not know if or how many proxy votes have been tampered with”.
Harraj’s vote of no confidence comes amid a number of resignations from the Senior Appointed Committee, including the Deputy Director of Press. Among reasons for her resignation, she cited “bullying behaviour” and “horrifying” working environment.
The Deputy Director of Press told Cherwell: “As someone who was once one of Moosa Harraj’s biggest public supporters, I have come to the realisation that he does not believe in the principles of free speech and democracy.”
Susan Abulhawa, Palestinian-American writer and activist, commented on the no-confidence vote: “This is the same person who refused to reinstate my full speech at the Oxford union [sic.], despite a decision from the governing body to reinstate it in full.” This followed a discrimination claim filed by the European Legal Support Center (ELSC) on behalf of Abulhawa regarding the publishing of her speech at the Union during the Israel-Palestine debate.
Posting on Instagram, President-Elect George Abaraonye, who lost a no-confidence vote at the Union last week, said: “I long considered Moosa a mentor, my big brother in the Union who’d regularly refer to me as his ‘little brother’. Our political divergence became entrenched only when I ran and won against his romantic partner in a democratic election last term.”
Abaraonye contested the results of the vote of no confidence in him. He will not be removed from the position until the appeals are resolved. Once that happens, he will automatically resign as President-Elect.
The Oxford Union have been approached for comment.
