Hannah Edwards has been elected to serve as the Oxford Union President in Hilary Term 2024 after running uncontested.
Edwards, the current term’s Librarian and a second-year PPEist, received 405 votes, while 127 people voted to re-open nominations.
At Thursday’s hustings, Edwards pledged giving members paper speeches at debates, a happy hour at the bar, and more collaboration with other societies. She concluded saying “I will do what I promise today”, proven by her past experience fulfilling nine pledges.
The ‘IMPACT’ slate won down the ballot as well. Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy secured the office of Librarian-elect with 359 votes, beating the 143 votes for re-opening nominations. At the hustings he had pointed out the slate being uncontested, saying there was no “serious competition”, as the “diligence” of their team “could not be matched”.
Finley Armstrong secured the Treasurer-Elect position with 284 votes, over Leo Buckley’s 175. Buckley explained his run without a slate at the hustings, saying he was the “only candidate contesting a position” because “it is critical” that members “have a choice”. Armstrong focused on maintaining the Union’s “commitment to freedom of speech” through restructuring its finances.
Julia Maranhao-Wong was elected as Secretary with 375 votes, while 141 voted to re-open nominations. At hustings, she highlighted how the Union “fundamentally shaped her university experience”. The new Secretary will serve under the Michaelmas Term President, Disha Hedge. The others will serve under the President elected for Hilary Term.
In the race for the Standing Committee, ‘IMPACT’ has also swept the board. Aryan Dhanwani, Zariel Oak, Izzy Horrocks-Taylor, Louis Wilson, and Chris Collins were elected. This is alongside Leo Buckley, who ran without a slate.
Many ‘IMPACT’ candidates were successfully elected to the Secretary’s Committee, with Chloe Pomfret and Charlotte Fallon in first and second place respectively, and Peter Chen in fourth place. Independent candidate Caleb van Ryneveld came third in the rankings with 43 first preference votes.
The full breakdown of results is as follows:
President-elect: Hannah Edwards – 405
Librarian-elect: Ebrahim Osman-Mowafy – 359
Treasurer-elect: Finley Armstrong – 284
Secretary: Julia Maranhao-Wong – 375
Standing Committee (in descending order): Chris Collins, Louis Wilson, Izzy Horrocks-Taylor, Zariel Oak, Leo Buckley, and Aryan Dhanwani.
Secretary’s Committee (in descending order): Chloe Pomfret, Charlotte Fallon, Caleb van Ryneveld, Peter Chen, Robert McGlone, Ana Rosca, Oliver JL, Ashlyn Cheong, Charlie Chadwick, Devon Darley, and Aimee Adey.
Turnout for this election was 590, a significantly lower turnout than last term’s 910.
Image credit: ‘IMPACT’ Oxford Union
