People talk, not numbers, said the late philosopher Richard Rorty. They talk, of course, interpreting the numbers. At the time of writing, the final exact results elections. But we know only as much as is necessary for an interpretable overview. I will dwell on some of its aspects.

Let’s start with her positive image pre-election period: the absence of mass pre-election events, more reminiscent of a festival and a spectacle. On the contrary, we saw the transition of the election campaign into more indirect communication (media, social networks). From the era of the balcony and the interpretation of the campaign speech as a spectacle to excite fans, we have moved to a media-mediated format and a more logical (rather than emotional) processing of a political message.

Mister. Mitsotakis he intelligently sought the lead and won it impressively. However, this is not enough for him. He couldn’t be clearer: he doesn’t believe in cooperative governments, he wants to govern alone. It seems that running a country is like running a business for him – the key to success is the managerial ability of the people he “hires” himself. He implies that the division of power is inefficient. Efficient decision making is required, which only the Enlightened Ones (and the people elected to head the Illuminati) can provide.

It seems that most of society shares this opinion. It is understandable, preceding the pompous four years of Tsipras. Comparison with her was the prime minister’s strongest advantage in this election. The people need an executive prime minister, not ideological dilettantes.

Managerial competence is indeed important, and Mr. Mitsotakis has it, but is it enough? Skill for what purpose? In a liberal democracy, the connection of values ​​is broad – we want accountability, the rule of law, and quality collective goods. The democratic ethos involves convergence, balancing and self-restraint, sometimes requiring post-election cooperation with opposition teammates. And Greek democracy, with its historical imperfection, needs a radical restoration – above all, institutional trust, memory, balances. Based on experience, another one-party government, N.D. he is unlikely to adequately pursue them.

In a rational political system—that is, a system of the German or Scandinavian type in which serious parties have internalized the notion that they exist to serve the common good—the first and third parties will cooperate and indeed have strong majorities. Programmatically, they converge sufficiently, their differences are manageable. No, it’s the Balkans. Mitsotakis believes the winner should take all, Androulakis will stick with the stupid “neither Mitsotakis nor Tsipras”. We are moving towards new elections, the party’s self-reference did not take them into account. We are a country that loves to divide, is fascinated by empowerment and has a hard time working together.

Perhaps we still overestimate electoral politics – elections rarely reverse the main trends. The youth, when not making the choice of political outrage, vote with their feet (abstain or leave); the country is demographically shrinking; the aging electorate is becoming more conservative and polarized. It is no coincidence that “stability” prevailed as a political choice, just as it is no coincidence that the existing leader-centric model of governance was further strengthened.

Mr. Haridemos K. Tsoukas (www.htsoukas.com) is Professor at the University of Cyprus and Research Professor at the University of Warwick.