Final Five Candidates Announced for Oxford University Chancellor Election
Former politicians dominate the field ahead of the final round of voting in the prestigious election.
Four out of the five final candidates announced on Tuesday who’re bidding to become the new Chancellor are former politicians.
Those are: Lord William Hague, Lord Peter Mandelson, Rt Hon Dominic Grieves, and Baroness Jan Royall. While the current Pro Vice Chancellor of the university, and lawyer, Lady Elish Angiolini, also made it through to the second and final round of voting – which commences the week beginning the 18th of November.
Over 23,000 members of Convocation, which consists of staff and alumni of the university, cast their ballots in the first round of voting. They then whittled down the initial 38 candidates, who were announced on October 16th, to the final five announced yesterday.
One candidate, former leader of the Conservative Party and former Foreign Secretary, Lord William Hague, studied at Magdalan College, Oxford. He said in his candidate statement that he hopes to “ensure future 17-year-olds have the same opportunity as I did.”
The title of Chancellor of Oxford University dates back to 1224, with the last person to hold the position being Lord Patten, who retired at the end of Trinity Term 2024, triggering this election.
The election caused controversy, however, when last month Imran Khan, the former Pakistani prime minister and cricket captain, who studied at Oxford, had his bid to become Chancellor rejected.
Mr. Khan has been in prison in Pakistan for over a year for allegedly leaking state secrets. The former PM, however, denies the claims and has said the charges brought against him are simply politically motivated.
The winner of the Oxford University Chancellor Election will be announced in the week commencing November 25th.