Former President Ranil Wickremesinghe says that if the opposition parties had united and contested in fifty or a hundred local government bodies as he advised, the alliance would have had the potential to win a significant number of seats.
He made this statement to the media in Colombo today (07) regarding the results of the local government elections.
He further said,
“After five years, we contested under the elephant symbol. This can be considered a beginning. Our results in some areas are good. We can be satisfied. Now the new UNP has to work. Now the opposition has to come together and introduce some program to the people…
I did not even participate in the election campaign work. I entrusted this to the young leaders to carry out. This is a kind of test. There are good places as well as unsuccessful places. We have to think about how to move forward with the strength we have now. Some said that when we contested under the elephant symbol, people would come to vote. It is now apparent that people will not come to vote just because they contested under the elephant symbol. Now new people in the party should be introduced. This party should be built by people in their fifties and forties. From now on, the young generation should take responsibility and move forward. The SJB did not get the votes it got last time either.”