Traditional politics no longer enough to win elections, Ranil says

Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe has called for a complete restructuring of traditional party politics, saying political parties must attract younger voters if they are to remain competitive.

Addressing a meeting of the United National Party (UNP) Working Committee at Sirikotha on Friday, Wickremesinghe said conventional political strategies were no longer sufficient to secure electoral success.

He said some believed that bringing the UNP and the Samagi Jana Balawegaya (SJB) together would be enough to achieve victory, but argued that such an alliance alone would not address changes in the electorate.

Wickremesinghe said greater attention should be paid to Generation Z and millennials, including those who will become eligible to vote in coming elections.

“There are about eight million people in these groups. We have to think about them and move forward,” he said.

He said the UNP needed a new image and a broader restructuring that would bring younger generations into the political process.

“If we continue in the traditional way, we will lose these groups,” Wickremesinghe said. “Some people think that if the UNP and SJB come together, we will win. That is no longer the case. Everything has changed.”

He said political parties that failed to attract new voters would struggle to make progress, adding that even traditional supporters could become discouraged if they believed a party had little prospect of electoral success.

Wickremesinghe therefore proposed rebuilding the party’s image and moving away from established political methods in favour of a new approach.