Milo Donovan has been declared the winner of the election for Oxford Union President in Hilary Term 2027, after the Union released the result of last term’s suspended vote count. Donovan, whose campaign pledges included banning hack messages, was last term’s treasurer.
The result was released 44 days after the poll on 12th June. According to the Returning Officer’s notice, 117 (11%) of the 1073 ballots were excluded from the count by the Election Tribunal. Donovan won with 435 first preferences, ahead of Prajwal Pandey’s 360 first preferences. 67 voters asked to Re-Open Nominations.
The Trinity Term election count was originally suspended after the Returning Officer identified substantial evidence of electoral malpractice. In a notice to all members on 12th June, the Returning Officer announced that counting would not proceed due to suspicions it would not yield a reliable result. Several membership cards were subsequently seized and an Election Tribunal was convened. The investigation, which included an email verification process, concluded ahead of the count on 26th July.
In a ruling issued on 20th June, the Tribunal found that all elections for Officer, Officer-Elect, Standing Committee, and Secretary’s Committee were affected by electoral malpractice allegations. It ordered that no member may enter upon office or an elected place on committee until it rules further. Current Standing Committee and Secretary’s Committee members remained in post rather than leaving at the end of term, while the offices of President-elect, Librarian-elect, and Treasurer-elect have remained vacant in the meantime.
An Oxford Union spokesperson told Cherwell: “Following our recent elections, the Tribunal identified and set aside a number of irregular ballots after a rigorous verification process involving record analysis, CCTV review, and direct confirmation with every voter concerned. Crucially, these were caught before any ballot box was opened, so they had no bearing on the result, which stands as declared.”
This is the second Tribunal intervention in a Union election this year. A Tribunal in May found former President-Elect Catherine Xu guilty of electoral fraud over the Hilary Term 2026 election, permanently barring her from office and ordering a re-poll. Xu’s case concerned separate conduct and has since concluded; no findings have yet been announced from the current investigation.
The Returning Officer’s notice accompanying the results states: “The succession to these Offices and Committees is and will remain suspended until the Election Tribunal orders otherwise.”
Elsewhere, Henry Nicholls was elected Treasurer against Vishnu Vadlamani and Shamir Aziz was elected Librarian, beating opponent Oliver Green. Saara Lunawat, who ran unopposed, was elected Secretary.
The following were elected to Standing Committee, from most to fewest votes: George Christiansen, Sambhav Jain, DK Singh, Leo Zhou, Adil Rahoo, and Isabelle McElvanney.
Meanwhile, the following will make up the Secretary’s Committee: Akheel Kale, Kevin Cui, Leyton Styles, Aaarav Desai, Konstantin Nazarov, Luisa Romero Munoz, Marion Santo, Antonio Reis, Matilda Richardson, Thomas Tadesse, and David Balbus.
Cherwell has approached Donovan and Pandey for comment.
