Raneem Shamseldin, junior in Business, who will most likely be the next student body president, is beginning to plan her upcoming presidency.

Unofficial election results predict Shamseldin and her running mate, Joseph Domanski, received 2,638 votes, while Bobby Knier, junior in LAS, and his running mate Laura Saldivar, received 1,992 votes.

The Daily Illini sat down with about her plans for the coming year.

Editor’s note: The responses have been edited for clarity. 

How did you feel about the election as a whole?

Obviously I was very happy with the results, but all of the confusion with Campus Student Election Commission in the election was worrisome. The results came out over two and a half hours late, and originally they put out the wrong results.

You’ve been elected president … What’s next?

I’ve already reached out to Bobby (Knier) to see better placement for him because he’s an asset to student government.

How do you want student government to evolve?

I’m reaching out to all of the newly elected senators, and I want to talk to each and every one of them about what they want to get done and to connect them with older senators so they have a mentor. Right now, it’s always the same people writing resolutions, and I think it’s because the new senators never got the proper training.

When do you officially take over?

As of now, based on the register, the transition will be during the 15th week of school, so the week before finals.

What’s your main goal as president?

There are so many things, but one of my main goals is improving outreach and improving conversations. Senate doesn’t have the best reputation on campus, and part of it is we really failed to reach out as much as we could.

Anything else you want to add?

I’m really happy to have this opportunity, and I look forward to the challenges that will be brought, but especially just making our campus voice more representative of the people on it.

[email protected]