Anxiety before the penalty kicks

The game should have been over on May 21, with New Democracy's resounding victory, but our political peculiarities led to something like the penalty kicks at the end of a tied soccer match.

Although we don't expect any great reversal of the previous election's results, for the protagonists, this Sunday's voting will decide their future, as well as that of their parties and the country. The previous vote established the context of today's anxiety, determining the targets and dangers for all involved. It shaped the goalposts of expectations.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis' main challenge is to match or exceed May's victory, because that one will not mean anything unless it translates into a comfortable majority in Parliament. A result that is judged to be below expectations could be considered a miss, an injury. In other words, the goal scored by Mitsotakis will be judged on the...