INRODUCTION

Over a period spanning half a century, the United National Party has established an unparalleled record of service to Sri Lanka, spearheading Sri Lanka's remarkable economic and social progress. The United National Party has established itself firmly as the strongest single political party of the country. As the Hon D S Senanayake, the pioneer and founder of the United National Party stated in the opening address on the 6th of September 1946 at 'Palm Court' in Albert Crescent on the occasion of the inauguration of the United National Party: The United National Party, in the fullest sense of the expression, is a united and national organization. This is because the United National Party has been constituted to enable comprehensive representation of all racial, social and other groups. Much of the analysis following the 2010 General Elections stems from the disparity in views between commercial Colombo backed by western influence and rural vote base. Colombo Municipal limits has just over 400,000 registered voters but it is a small portion of these opposition backing voters who feel that their views are to be accepted over that of rest of Sri Lanka. Unfortunately, it is their thoughts that get pooled with western interests ironically resulting in the main opposition being regarded as anti-Sri Lankan amongst Sri Lankas populace especially amongst the 15 million Sinhalese. This is where the major problem for the UNP lies far above the inefficiency of the main opposition leader to win an election. It would be good for the UNP to think back and wonder what J R Jayawardena and Premadasa vocalized and against the fallacies made by the present UNP. The entry of Gen. Sarath Fonseka into politics was again thought to be from the point of view of the west and Colombo elite the best option to challenge Mahinda Rajapakse.

SWOT AND SITUATION ANALYSIS

The United National party has no choice but to adapt itself with the changing political climate which requires a new set of mindset and strategies to strive in the future. The application of political marketing and its requirements are deemed timely and crucial to improve election performance. Its underlying philosophy could necessitate political parties in gaining a better insight of their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in positioning themselves including the candidates. Strengths Countrywide grassroots support, Membership cuts across the entire country, National coverage, Nationalism in its former and present approaches to issues

Track record and nationalism, Has got a national character, Has been in existence before thus knowledgeable, Good development record, House hold name, Historical achievements, UNP has a good track record of public service and national unity, Planned excellent development programs

Political history of the UNP

Non discriminatory Management of public resources for common good UNP the party that fights for the interests of the people, Good mobilization strategy

Weaknesses

The two coups, Negative image created by the failure to sustain government twice No clear checks and balances while in government Handling of the security and military Internal Party Differences

Promotion of individual interest rather than party interest, Disunity, Internal wrangles, Internal conflicts, Internal Bickering Poor conflict management mechanism, Conflicts of internal nature Over dependence on volunteers to do work, Lack of manpower at the party secretariat, Inefficient secretariat, Decisions are not acted upon /implemented, Inability to act quickly and decisively to forestall problems

Grass root structures are weak In disciplined members, Lack of respect of the constitution of the party Poor marketing of UNP Lack of political marketing Strategy i.e. media

UNP's values are not clear to the members (Debate and Dissemination), Civic education and sensitization is weak Opportunities More opened political space, Better opportunity for mobilization, More literate society

Previous friendly contacts, Expected financial support Good will that exists within the membership of UNP, Committed membership

High level of Corruption in the existing government, Un equitable distribution of wealth under the current government UNP's organizational strength to compete, Re-structuring of party organs with review of constitution, Ability to organize and prepare for competitive multi-party elections The changing international community opinion on Sri Lanka, Donor involvement in the politics of Sri Lanka Threats Militarization of politics, Elimination of political opponents by existing through torture and other means, Disrespect of the rule of law and constitutionalism, Constitutional amendments made in favor of present president

Previous Inability to retain power

Time frame in which to re-organize and compete with incumbent is limited Inadequate finances for party activities and operations

Defection of members to other parties, Danger of people having financial interests instead of good policies and leadership, commercialized politics Continuous disgruntlement within the party, Lack of respect for party principles by some party members, Viewing leadership aspirations as alternative employment United National party and its candidates have no systematic discipline in gaining market insight. Many decisions that are made based on the insufficient or inaccurate insight lead to political marketing mistakes. UNP typically ignore inconsistency of voters taste as well as social and economical incessant changes. Besides, It do not have systematic and continuous market research platform. However, many political marketers are good at collecting market data, putting them into action is another vital stage for avoiding miscalculation in political marketing decision making. For instance, parties could not handle strategy and direct marketing efforts towards particular segment of the people for getting better results, when there is no proper insight toward the political market. Secondly, lack of voter insight leads to insufficient understanding of voter behaviour, which is another source of serious issues and consequently cause of improper decision. For instance, political parties habitually take no notice of dynamic essence of voters behaviour. This fact results in unreliable prediction that leads to an inaccurate approach. Political parties also do not put necessary programs into action and/or carry out needless practices without significant outcomes. Political marketers also make mistakes when they do not consider the impacts of culture, religious, and ethnicity on voters behaviour. As such, understanding voters behaviour is not complete until it gets enough ability in dealing with different cultures and ethnic groups, thus politicians indirectly involve people in policy planning and consequently achieve more long term supports. Thirdly, the gained understanding is not fully utilized in decision-making. Managing voter insight goes beyond the expectation monitoring, or environmental monitoring and addresses managing expectation in action. Having proper procedures to analyze market insight is significant since political competition is uncertain and unpredictable. Thus, market analysis lets parties to be responsive and flexible to catch maximum attention especially in each constituency. Additionally, political organization can adopt an adoptive organization structure and acceptable level of decentralization to seek better performance in targeted electoral districts. Fourthly, competitor analysis is omitted in many political marketing practices. Insight not only can be found across society but also can be gained from the winners in competitions. UNP does not pay enough attention into this source of understanding because of too many ideological conflicts with other parties. In contrast, any successes with competitors in election are originated from either meeting with voters desires or surpassing their needs due to proper market insight. In this way, imitation without radical innovation in political offerings can lead to success since it answers voters desires. One of the frequent examples of this practice is valuing other parties experience in overcoming adversity or learning from their mistakes. Fifthly, political product is the basis for mistakes. In this perspective, voter insight directly determines the quality of political products, including people (e.g. candidate), policies, or

ideology. In general, parties pay no heed to this fact that the advantage of uniqueness may be short-lived and political products like usual offerings needs to be upgraded. In order to respond properly to environment changes, dynamic improvisation in political products is also indispensable. Accordingly, the political product development is one the missing concept in contemporary political marketing. Nomination can be an example in this regard that needs to be planned and upgraded with marketing insight. There are evidences that challenge nomination of a particular candidate in respect of the unsatisfactory result of election.This fact usually shows up when parties trust to the old-success pattern without any updates. Therefore, these parties find their strategies and products ineffective as they did not aligned their offerings with contemporary social, ethnical, or even environmental concerns. Sixthly, the results of political parties interactions with society, members, and supports are not usually satisfactory. These failures are originated from improperness in both materials (context) and tools (interface). Similarly, downfalls of political public relations in our days initiate from employing monotonous material and using stereotype interfaces. In this way, another kind of mistake is shaped when parties do not align context with voters interest and do not employ best fitting tools for branding. The recent election competitions clearly proved the influence of new technology to open new window of opportunity. This point once again highlights the importance of promotional creativity that is usually neglected by dominant parties. Seventhly, many parties ignore media and campaign power, while it is a crucial player in political campaigns. In particular, cyber-space and new technology open fresh chance for parties in communication and promotion. For example, many parties do not consider the influence of online social network yet and thus they do not fully utilize this opportunity for connecting to both potential and actual supporters. In addition, planning and managing campaigns are not free of errors, especially in terms of campaign design. In this case, campaign message, identity, length, budget, and theme as well as target segment, level of customization, media channels, and measuring effectiveness are popular issues among scholars that need reconsideration.

Proposed Strategies for UNP

The main purpose of the retreat was to come up with strategies for UNP. The strategies resulted from the SWOT Analysis whereby we can look for solutions on how to overcome their weaknesses and exploit the opportunities available in order to improve the image and competitiveness of UNP. Strategy 1: Capacities of UNP to carry out its activities/functions at grassroots and national levels strengthened.

Recruit and remunerate competent staff at the branch, constituency, district and national levels. Set up and equip party offices at, constituency and district levels, encourage the same at branch level Engage professionals into the party Setup a system of volunteerism for doing party work.

Set up the mechanisms to monitor and evaluate the staff at all levels Create promotional ladder to encourage competent staff to remain in the party. Setup a human resource management and evaluation unit Review the Constitution in respect of youth and gender.

Strategy 2: Strategies for mobilization and management of resources designed and implemented. Re-establish links with party friends, sister parties and friendly governments. Build relations and contracts with friendly business personalities. Hold fundraising drives nationally and internationally. Generate income from party materials, souvenirs and assets. Set up an appropriate financial management system. Design and implement mechanisms for proper and strict accountability and transparency.

Strategy 3: Public Relations, Political Marketing and sensitization strategies developed and operationalised.

Setting up a Public Relations Officer Desk Hire external expertise to train UNP Staff Design and establish internal and external PR communication systems. Production Information for the members Establish internal communication channels. (Meetings) Develop/design and disseminate packaged correct information about the party. Production of brochures and leaflets, Writing articles in print media, Write press releases, Engage in radio talk shows, Organize television programs, Engage in internet communication, Promote and organize video shows i.e. documentaries about the party, Organize telematic programs Organizing workshops and seminars. i.e. internally for party members and externally. Organizing music, dance and drama to promote the party. Setting up a library accessible to members and the public. Establishing links with foreign press Setting up a monitoring network of both print and electronic media nationally and internationally. Naming a memorial day that brings party members together. Establish relations with political parties having similar ideologies. Establish links with civil society organizations.

Strategy 5: Campaign strategy to increase support for the party programmes designed and implemented. Establishing a campaign team.

Develop a campaign budget Mobilize resources for the campaign programmes Print T/shirts, caps, badges flags and scarves. Avail and distribute membership cards widely. Establish national regional and district campaign teams. Design and distribute campaign manifesto Design slogans for party campaigns Establish 24 hour telephone hotline Distribute UNP ring tones and songs Facilitate campaign teams with communication facilities UNP members can use options such as Facebook fan pages, Youtube channels, Twitter in creating a portfolio of social media presence. Regularly updating the FB fan page and Youtube channel with latest speeches they delivered in various events, photos of their development projects can create a talking point for the participants of those communities.

Strategy 6: Youth participation at all party levels enhanced. Design and implement training programmes at various levels of leadership within the party for the youth. Provide budgetary provisions for youth activities. Facilitate the youth to develop international contacts and relations.

Conclusion
The UNP as a Party under the leadership of Late D.S.Senanayake brought bloodless independence to this country. It was JR. that introduced revolutionarily economic reforms to this country and also brought about significant infrastructure development to this country and integrated small Sri Lanka to the world. All this has been done by the United National Party. If that is the case, why have people forgotten this and have such an animosity against the party? UNP need to rectify that position. The people, especially the members, must be given the feeling that this our party. If that is the case it must be a party where mediocracy, where people who have strived to protect it will be able to protect the party if the party has given them the opportunity. Therefore UNP has to have a completely new look approach where the youth must be empowered with innovative devolving of power.

Reference
http://www.unp.lk http://www.scribd.com/doc/36101541/PEST-Analusis-and-Macro-Environment Asian Tribune- By Shenali Waduge