Chengkai Xie has been elected president of the Oxford Union for Michaelmas 2021, winning 520 first preferences or 72.6% of the vote. Xie was the Librarian of the Oxford Union in Hilary 2021.
The Bridge slate has also won all other major positions:
Librarian: Michael-Akolade Ayodeji, Bridge, with 72.4% of the vote.
Treasurer: Arjun Bhardwaj, Bridge, with 79.9% of the vote.
Secretary: Larissa P. Sidarto, with 79.9% of the vote.
This marks a victory for the BRIDGE slate which ran unopposed for almost all major positions this term and pledged to democratise events (with speaker, debate and Q&A suggestions), along with setting up Foundation Year memberships and tiered-access for the Union. They also committed to platforming marginalised voices and beginning a state school outreach programme.
ALTERNATIVE pledged to “arrange a charity event for homelessness in Oxford”, host more speakers to discuss human rights and to “make sure everyone reads the standing orders and understands them”.
PROGRESS promised to host a panel on the future of the African Union, improve the speaker diversity ratio, reduce membership fees and guarantee access member committee interviews.
This marks the third time the Union has held elections online.
Ayesha Khan (BRIDGE), Eu Ro Wang (BRIDGE), Rachel Ojo (PROGRESS), Ahmad Nawaz (ALTERNATIVE) and William Feasey (BRIDGE) have been elected to the Standing Committee.
Alfred Dry (BRIDGE), Olya Kotova (PROGRESS), Shariq Haidery (ALTERNATIVE), Arpan Kumar De, Kate Zhu (PROGRESS), Naman Gupta (PROGRESS), Grace Oddie-James (BRIDGE), Ambika Sehgal (BRIDGE), Declan Nelson (BRIDGE), Charlie Mackintosh (BRIDGE) and Eliza Dean (ALTERNATIVE) have been elected to the Secretary’s Committee.
Image Credit: Barker Evans.
