Editorial: Political stability

The prime minister would have had many reasons to call early elections, or at least to leave open the prospect for the immediate future.

As long as the war in Ukraine continues and the European economy is being tested, the fatigue and aggravation of the public will grow and the temptation of seeking left-wing or right-wing populist solutions will become more intense.

Moreover, the rampant rumours of snap elections over the last many months, for which the opposition is mainly responsible, had led many ministers to neglect their jobs and focus on their re-election campaigns.

If one adds to that the difficulty of forming a government with the current proportional representation electoral law, it is not odd that many have advised Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis to expedite the process.

He chose, however, to remain faithful to his 2019 campaign pledge, which he has often repeated, to serve out his full, four-year term.

In so doing, he expressed his trust in the public, which is facing difficulties in making ends meet but knows that Vladimir Putin is responsible and not Mitsotakis.

Citizens also have not forgotten how, with the referendum on the last bailout memorandum in July, 2015, then PM and current opposition leader Alexis Tsipras, who is now strictly judging everyone and everything, led the country into a dangerous adventure.

A factor that weighed heavily in the PM’s decision to carry on is the unpredictable nature of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who could try to exploit a transitional period in Greek politics to ratchet up tensions in the Aegean or Cyprus.

Naturally, maintaining political stability and decisiveness on a national level is the best way to confront such dangers.

The prime minister thus assumed the political risks and cost of leading the country through a difficult winter.

Now, the time has come for opposition parties to pass the test of political responsibility, so that in spring citizens can make their decisions without fear and passion, and above all based on a rational assessment of the realities.