The upside of the vote

Thousands of Greeks participated in Sunday’s vote to elect a new leader of the New Democracy party. They were not all traditional supporters who would have gone to to the ballot boxes in any case; many were people who simply understand how important it is for Greece to have a strong opposition party that is pro-European and liberal.

On the part of the conservative party itself, it didn’t do enough to prove that it doesn’t belong in the last century. It made an entire country wait 24 hours for the result because it was collecting the results from the polling stations by fax!
But let us focus on the positives from Sunday’s process, which are not negligible.

Other than turning up in impressive numbers, voters also chose the path of moderation and a combination of the old with the new that could work if New Democracy manages to stay united.

As of the new year, when Greece will enter a new, crucial phase, the country will need a solid opposition, and at least 400,000 citizens have already shown that they take this very, very seriously.