It's the final countdown...Greek elections...September 20...Greek society exhausted...A scleroti

Greece might be heading towards its most severe winter since poverty levels keep rising worryingly…

The charismatic, youthful Alexis Tsipras…and the mustachioed Vangelis Meimarakis…

The election has become an unpredictable, largely two-horse race…Whichever party comes first, it is unlikely to achieve complete majority in parliament…Therefore a coalition will be required in order to avoid a disruptive new round of elections…Greece needs a stable government in order to put into effect the bailout deal and keep the country away from bankruptcy and from exiting the euro…

A few weeks ago, the Greeks praised Alexis Tsipras for attacking the International Monetary Fund creditors over austerity cuts…However, suppositions on the results of the upcoming elections, focus on whether Mr. Alexis Tsipras will manage to form a coalition government…Opinion polls over the past week have shown the New Democracy party catching up quickly, indicating a worryingly tight competition…Will Vangelis Meimarakis, a veteran conservative, become a surprise prime minister?

The kleptocrats? Many Greeks remain angry at their older parties, including New Democracy, which they blame for not managing well the country over a long period, thereby leading to the debt crisis…As the charismatic Alexis Tsipras pointed out…It's time to do away with the old, corruption and favoritism…The election is a considerable gamble for Mr. Alexis Tsipras that people will actually believe in him…

On the other side of the coin, the euphoria that welcomed Mr. Tsipras's victory in January has been partly replaced by political cynicism and has alienated many because of his “weakness” to wipe out austerity and for accepting additional reforms such as tax increases and spending cuts in an effort to remain in the euro…However, Tsipras still hopes for a complete majority and an order to implement the austerity policies demanded by the creditors which have split his party…Syriza has excluded a coalition with anyone other than its former partner, the right-wing Independent Greeks but although it agrees that Greece cannot risk for another round of elections, it recognizes that it might face pressure to consider a tie-up if the Independent Greeks do not manage to enter the parliament…

Syriza does not consider acceptable many market-oriented overhauls for ideological reasons…However, it might implement them simply because Greece depends on creditors and therefore it has no choice…As Tsipras indicated about the bailout deal, there are some harsh fiscal measures that can be substituted with other policies and achieve the same fiscal goals…Syriza promises to put the bailout into effect but it outlines that the retrenchment measures can be made less severe than currently envisaged…Additionally, Syriza and New Democracy want now to discard the unwanted demand measure of a 23% value-added tax on private education for which they both agreed as part of the bailout deal…

On the other hand, Vangelis Meimarakis is a real threat to Alexis Tsipras…However, Syriza has rejected propositions from New Democracy, calling it part of an “organization” that is accountable for the economic malaise…

New Democracy is also committed to maintain through effort the bailout while renegotiating some of its terms…Nevertheless, many Greeks who support business-friendly economic overhauls, strongly believe that Meimarakis would be better suited to implement privatizations and market deregulation…In fact, some in New Democracy have the notion that freer, more competitive markets can help solve Greece's problems…New Democracy indicated that it will not vote to stop income-tax perks for farmers, which is one of the measures the country has to establish soon in exchange for bailout loans…

Meimarakis will try to obtain a coalition with his leftist opponents first if he wins the elections and asserts that this is the country’s last chance to get out of the crisis…Whatever the results are on September 20, an alliance with the centrist To Potami is anticipated to be requested…Polls show Potami taking between 4-7 percent of the vote and fighting for third place with Golden Dawn and PASOK parties which means that it could play a critical role if the winner needs a coalition partner…

The possibility of a social revolution…Juncker has admonished Greece's third government that it will have no flexibility over the terms of its new bailout plan and could still confront the possibility of a rowdy Eurozone exit…Greek rulers will not change terms of the bailout and lenders need respect for the loan arrangements that have been agreed…Any new government would have to fully obey the punishing conditions set out by its creditors in order to keep Greece in the euro for at least another three years…

The political system has been stressed by the increase of populism and radical, fanatical forces on both the left and the right and now there is the risk of renewed government instability…

Greeks should keep in mind that…

Tax evasion will only be ceased when the connivance of the civil service is stopped…Acceptance of bribes will only cease when foreign companies, such as Siemens, stop providing them…Lack of efficiency and blundering in the civil service will recover when appointments are made on merit, not nepotism…

The brain depletion will only be overturned when graduates have secure and well-paid jobs that greet their creativity…Start-up companies can only illustrate their entrepreneurship when commercial and bureaucratic hindrances to small enterprises are eliminated…

You cannot make radical changes overnight or in a year…it needs political will on a human scale…

Greece's location, tourism, shipping, renewable energy resources, and a growing number of scientists provide real possibilities for the country to grow…But to realize that possibility requires stability and real reform…All that is clear is that neither of the two parties will win a complete majority in the parliament and therefore a coalition government will be needed…Consequently, after the elections, Greece's parties must learn to collaborate in order to create an effective government and avoid the destruction of the economy for more years and exhaust the patience of most of Greece’s partners…

This is the country's last chance…