Moosa Harraj has been elected President of the Oxford Union for Michaelmas 2025, securing 833 first-preference votes. He defeated runner-up Chris Collins, who received 663 votes.
Harraj, currently serving as the Union’s Librarian, is pursuing an MPhil in Economics at Balliol College. He ran under the #Bridge slate, which dominated the elections by winning all four officer positions.
The full officer election results saw Katherine Yang elected as Librarian with 826 votes, defeating Nathanael Kennedy-Leroi, who secured 572 votes. Raza Nazar was elected Treasurer with 878 votes against Oliver "JL" Jones-Lyons’ 533 votes. Jennifer Yang won the Secretary position with 855 votes, surpassing Prajwal Pandey, who received 548 votes. Additionally, the Standing Committee members elected include Brayden Lee, Matthew Chiu, Samy Medjoub, Akshay Pendyala, Chloe Pomfret, and Víctor Marroquín-Merino. The results for the Secretary’s Committee will be announced on 9 March.
Harraj’s campaign focused on his experience as an elected officer and his deep understanding of the Union’s financial, organizational, and reputational challenges. On the other hand, Collins, a finalist reading Classics at Corpus Christi College, criticized what he described as “petty student politics” and emphasized a vision centered on delivering great events and meaningful debates.
The election, held on 7 March, saw a record turnout of 1,730 votes, marking a significant increase compared to previous elections, where 1,187 votes were cast in Trinity 2024 and 1,268 in Michaelmas 2024. The Oxford Union uses a single transferable voting (STV) system, allowing members to rank candidates for each position. In this election, 42 candidates were aligned with #Bridge, while 33 were associated with the #Rebuild slate.
Following the election results, Collins expressed gratitude to his supporters and called for unity within the Union. Speaking to The Oxford Student, he said: “I’m incredibly grateful to everyone who supported us in what has been the largest election of recent times. I love the Union, and I hope that we will be able to move beyond the struggles of the past few months. I wish Moosa all the best for the future.”
With the #Bridge slate securing full control of the Union, attention now turns to Harraj’s leadership as he prepares to take charge of one of Oxford’s most prestigious institutions.
