Oxford Union elects Palestinian president

The Oxford Union, one of the world’s most prestigious student societies, has elected its first Palestinian president. 

Arwa Hanin Elrayess was elected to head up the union for the trinity (summer) term in 2026. 

She was elected with 757 first preference votes, which was 150 more than the runner-up. 

Turnout was 1,528, which was distinctly higher than the previous term’s election, according to the Oxford Student. 

Elrayess studies philosophy, politics and economics, and belongs to the St Edmund’s Hall constituent college. 

Reacting to the election, her father Mohamed Elrayess wrote on LinkedIn: “Very proud of my daughter… for making history as the first Arab female, the first Palestinian, and the first Algerian to be elected President of the Oxford Union.” 

The president-elect was involved in the production of a documentary called Heart of a Protest, which focused on protests in London in solidarity with Palestinians. 

“The film follows a powerful wave of pro-Palestine protests that emerged in the wake of Israel’s assault on Gaza,” according to a post on Instagram promoting the film, cross-posted on Elrayess’ account. 

“This documentary is a complete zero budget film, made by five people who care about what's been going on since 1947.”

The Palestinian-Algerian student currently serves on the union’s standing committee. 

Reacting to the election result, she told the Oxford Student: “I am grateful and humbled by the faith and trust the members of the Union have placed in me and my team. 

“I want to thank all those who put aside their differences and came together to work towards a shared vision of this Union, which we all adore. I look forward to serving the members of this society in Trinity Term 2026.”

The Oxford Union regularly hosts Q&A sessions with high-profile speakers and competitive debates, as well as public speaking and debating workshops. 

It was first established in 1823, and is considered to be one of the UK’s oldest university societies. 

Elrayess’ election comes after two recent no-confidence polls were triggered in president-elect George Abaraonye and president Moosa Harraj. 

Harraj survived his vote in late October, days after his successor Abaraonye lost his vote of no confidence over comments he made about the death of Charlie Kirk. 

Abaraonye reportedly posted a message on Instagram at the time of the assassination of the American conservative figure which read: “Charlie Kirk got shot loool.”

He has since said that the vote was “compromised”, and told the BBC that people campaigning against him had “unsupervised access” to an email account collecting proxy ballots.