New Democracy without the specter of SYRIZA

Now that there is no longer the specter of a return of leftist SYRIZA and its former leader Alexis Tsipras to power, ruling New Democracy could easily fall back to being its "good old" self. It is a party with a long tradition of interparty backstabbing and clashes between its prominent members. Oftentimes, it is only the first names of the main protagonists of such clashes that change.

The experience of SYRIZA forced ND to remain united. Even those who grumbled a lot admitted that at the end of the day, "there is one red line that we will not cross, so that we don't bring them back to power."

Today, ND is a rare case in Europe. It is a historical party of power that received very high percentages in the last national elections and ensured an absolute majority. How did it do that? It stole voters both from the center and the right of the political spectrum, just as...