It is not just political fair play that mandates the establishment of a stable electoral system that cannot be tampered with by each successive government to serve its own needs.

The national interest is at stake, because mature democracies do not change their electoral systems every so often, and the country needs stable governments.

Greece must at all costs avoid the Italian experience of governments that hang by a thread and the spectre of the country not having a government.

It would be well if this new electoral system can be the product of the broadest possible consensus among political parties.

No government, as strong as it may be, should impose a law that serves its momentary interests.

No party should determine its position based on its parliamentary strength at a given time and no party from now on should swear by proportional representation when it sees it is about to lose an election and forget it when it is about to win and receive the 50 –seat bonus that goes to the top party.

In order for the country to transcend the crisis on a solid footing it must definitively abandon the dysfunctions of the past which wounded its political system and by extension democracy itself.

Frequent changes of the electoral law are one such dysfunction.

Consequently, the hour of responsibility has arrived for Greece’s political forces.