Are there any redeeming qualities to elitism and any downsides to pluralism

One could argue that elitism (the believe that a society should be led by an elite) has the advantage that the most educated people are in power - in the hope that they would take the best decisions for the common good.

Plularism - a system where more than one entity (group, etc) has a power means that all decisions need to be discussed, so they take more time (disadvantage)