Disha Hegde has been elected to serve as the Oxford Union President in Michaelmas Term 2023 after beating her opponent Chloe Glynn. Hedge, the former Librarian and a second-year History and Economics student at St John’s College, received 330 votes, defeating Chloe Glynn, who received 253 votes. 55 people voted to re-open nominations as their first preference, while 142 voted for Juan Davila. Hegde had been serving as Librarian this term, but she was auto-resigned after missing a number of Access Committee meetings.
The ‘BLOOM’ slate won down the ballot as well. Conrad Froyland-Moe (‘BLOOM’) secured the office of Librarian-elect with 378 votes, beating Seb Watkins (‘DEVELOP’) with 297 votes. Tom Elliot (‘BLOOM’) secured the Treasurer-Elect position with 332 votes over Amy Gilbride’s (‘DEVELOP’) 320. Lewis Fisher (“BLOOM’) was elected as Secretary with 351 votes, defeating Chris Collins (‘DEVELOP’) with 287. The new Secretary will serve under the Trinity Term President, Matthew Dick. The others will serve under the President elected for Trinity Term.
In other races, Julia Maranhao-Wong (‘DEVELOP’), Ebrahim Mowafy (‘ENGAGE’) and Leo Buckley (‘BLOOM’) have been elected to the Standing Committee with 205, 170 and 106 votes respectively. Chloe Davis (‘BLOOM’), Finley Armstrong (‘DEVELOP’) and Chris Collins (‘DEVELOP’) have also been elected.
Eleven other candidates have also been elected to the Secretary’s Committee, with Lilian Chen (‘ENGAGE’), Louis Wilson (‘DEVELOP’) and Hugo Roma Wilson (‘Bloom’) leading the votes there.
Here is the full breakdown:
President-elect: Disha Hegde – 330
Librarian-elect: Conrad Froyland-Moe – 378
Treasurer-elect: Tom Elliot – 332
Secretary: Lewis Fisher – 351
Standing Committee (in descending order): Julia Maranhao-Wong (‘DEVELOP’), Ebrahim Mowafy (‘ENGAGE’), Leo Buckley (‘BLOOM’), Chloe David (‘BLOOM’), Finley Armstrong (‘DEVELOP’), Chris Collins (‘DEVELOP’)
Secretary’s Committee (in descending order): Lilian Chen, Louis Wilson, Hugo Roma Wilson, Izzy Horrocks-Taylor, Zariel Oak, Aryan Dhanwani, Ben Gardner, Alexander Elliot, Anita Okunde, Mikaeel Toosy, Viraansh Bhanushaeli
Turnout for this election was 910, a significantly lower turnout than last term’s 1023.
Reacting to her win in the Presidential race, Disha Hegde wrote, “It’s such an honour to be elected as President of the Oxford Union – a dream come true that hasn’t quite sunk in yet. Thank you to all those who came out and voted for me and the rest of my team. I look forward to serving during the Bicentenary of the Union, alongside such incredible Officers, in Michaelmas 2023. I can’t wait to begin working on our termcard as well as bringing the reforms that I have pledged.”
