“Greece has derailed and remains there,” she said Maria Karystianou in an interview with Politico contrasting the Tempe train accident with Greek politics.

“I cannot bear to live in such a society and I cannot imagine how we will continue to live with such a corrupt political system. This is an urgent need of society that cannot be met by the existing political system,” Ms. Karystianou added, with Politico commenting that many want her to run for office, believing that a foreigner would be the most suitable person to shake up a country that has been rocked by a series of scandals and where trust in politicians has collapsed.

She, however, refused to confirm or deny the rumours.

“I want to see something new, as does much of society. I also belong to that 25%,” he said.

Politico recalls that in March 2024, the Mitsotakis government survived a no-confidence vote, but the handling of the fallout has only intensified scrutiny, with Athens rejecting a call by the European prosecutor to take action on the possible criminal liability of two former transport ministers after the government used a provision of the Greek constitution that gives ministers immunity.

“I am ashamed that a European prosecutor would come and say that our Constitution protects ministers from accountability. This constitutional provision is abused by politicians even in cases of crimes, such as Tempi”, commented Mrs. Karystianou.

The article also refers to Panos Routsi’s hunger strike whose son, Dennis, was also killed in the Tempe crash.

“The systematic and detailed efforts of the victims’ relatives to find evidence of administrative incompetence in the government’s response to the accident strengthened popular opposition to the ruling party,” said Ioannis Konstantinidis, associate professor in the Department of International and European Studies at the University of Macedonia. “Victims’ relatives — already having the moral advantage — also gained a political advantage over a government that was seen as inadequate at best.”

However, he added, moral support does not automatically translate into electoral support: “Their political opponents can attack them with arguments not about morality but rather about their inexperience or ability to govern. Their moral and symbolic capital will then be insufficient.”

Politico brought as an example the attack received by Mrs. Karystianou by the Minister of Health, Adonis Georgiadis. “None of us can answer what Karystianou says. I respect her as a mother who lost her child. But if he becomes our political adversary tomorrow, he will not have the same immunity and treatment. He will be our political opponent” he had declared in Parapolitika.

Another problem, according to Lamprini Rory, assistant professor of political science at the University of Athens, is that new parties find it extremely difficult to survive, even if they manage to survive for a few electoral contests.

“The intense debate surrounding the possibility of a new party led by Karystianou highlights the need for opposition representation and a potential political opportunity for a newcomer to the political scene. However, it is more likely that such a party would be stillborn – another implosion party.”

Finally, the publication comments that despite the decline of New Democracy in the polls, which suggests that it could not form a majority government if elections were held today, no serious challenger to Mr. Mitsotakis has emerged. However, it refers to speculation that the former prime minister is planning to form a new party Alexis Tsipras while another new party that is likely to emerge is from the right side of the political spectrum and specifically from the former prime minister and leader of the New Democracy, Antonis Samaras.