Two key threats

It was a tool for destabilizing the political system and an institutional flaw through which a purely consensual procedure could be turned into a weapon to force early elections, as was the case in 2009 and 2015. Amending the process of electing the country’s president – which should come into force following the expected endorsement of the relevant constitutional revisions by the next legislature – would indeed purge the system of this political land mine.

However, another key threat to political stability, simple proportional representation, remains. Greece’s mainstream political parties will have to pull themselves together to change an electoral system that is incompatible with the country’s political norms.

The current polarization may make such consensus appear rather unlikely, but there’s simply too much at stake.