Former Prime Minister of Pakistan Imran Khan will be running for Chancellor of Oxford University, his team told Telegraph. Khan, who is currently imprisoned in Pakistan, has yet to make an official announcement.
Khan was a student at Keble College in the 1970s, studying Philosophy, Politics and Economics and serving as captain of the Oxford Blues cricket team. He later became a professional cricket player.
In 2018, Khan became Prime Minister of Pakistan, running as a nationalist and promising to fight corruption. His tenure ended in 2022 when he lost a vote of no confidence. Earlier this year, Khan was sentenced to a total of 14 years in prison for various charges.
Charges of leaking state secrets and un-Islamic marriage have since then been overturned, while a corruption case remains in trial. A UN human rights working group stated that Khan is under “arbitrary detention” and called for his release.
The Chancellor is the University’s ceremonial head who fulfils formal duties such as presiding over ceremonies, fundraising for the University, and representing it. Lord Christopher Patten has been the Chancellor of Oxford University since 2003 until his retirement.
Last month Patten told Cherwell that “I think all [the University] is trying to do now is to ensure that the [candidates] who are put forward meet certain, very general, reasonable specifics: that they represent what’s established in the law about equality and so on, that they’re respectable, that they’re serious.”
Unlike previous elections that took place at the Sheldonian Theatre, where Oxford graduates in full academic dress casted their vote in-person, this election will be held online. The University also announced that it would not screen candidates following initial controversy over whether candidates will be selected based on identity or ideology. Candidates cannot be current students or employees of the University, nor candidates to political office.
Online voting for the next Chancellor of the University of Oxford will begin on 28 October and will take place throughout the third week of Michaelmas term.
A spokesperson from the University told Cherwell that the press office “won’t be commenting or speculating on candidates while applications remain open.”
