The government is trying to plan the difficult “next day” of the national tragedy in Tempi, with Maximos Palace being asked to make immediate decisions to improve rail security, how to manage the upcoming violent conflict with SYRIZA against the backdrop of the OSE, but also election time. for the date April 9, although still the most common, can no longer be taken for granted.

The immediate stake for the government is to demonstrate that the “everything in the light” line conveyed by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis is sincere and will last to the end, but also that even in retrospect, security initiatives are being taken. railway transport.

• Creation of a cross-party commission of experts, which will draw a conclusion about the systemic causes and chronic omissions that led to the tragedy in Tempe. As emphasized, the conclusion must be completed “in weeks, not months”, the position that “photographs” the will must be made public before the upcoming elections.

• Speeding up infrastructure upgrade projects by addressing, for example, any problems associated with existing tenders. The goal is for the remote control system to be completed across the network in September as planned, or even earlier.

• Strengthening existing means of safety rules on the railway tracks before the completion of the initiated projects. In this direction, one could decide, for example, to place two masters at all control stations.

Dilemma

Some in the government say the collapse will dominate the pre-election showdown even if the election is postponed.

The second issue for the government is the political management of the tragedy in Tempi, as it is expected that SYRIZA will single out it as a central field of confrontation with the authorities in the pre-election period, regardless of when the elections are held. The government would certainly bear the cost of the death, as it did not occur in the first period of his term, but shortly before the completion of four years.

Megaros Maximos acknowledges the above reality, but believes that even in this case, the measure of comparison with SYRIZA will not end at the expense of the government. As emphasized, “it is obvious that during the reign of N.D. in some areas, the modernization of the country was going on, while in others it was not. In OSE, the latter is obviously the case. The question is, who will be able to get ahead of him in the next period: Mitsotakis or Tsipras?”

At the same time, government officials point out, in relation to the Eye, which some are trying to use as a measure of comparison, that the tragedy at Tempe testifies to the chronic pathologies of the Greek state, but human error also played a role. decisive role. No attempt was made to cover up or shift blame either, the most typical example being that a few hours after the fatal accident, Minister of Transport Kostas Karamanlis submitted his resignation, which was immediately accepted by the Prime Minister.

Finally, it is emphasized that on other occasions when very serious problems were identified during his term, such as the catastrophic fires of 2021 and the Medea bad weather, Mr. Mitsotakis, in addition to the self-criticism he carried out, took the initiative, resulting in such events did not recur.

Voting time

Within a week, the prime minister will make a final decision on the date of the election. That is, whether he will stick to his original plan to go to the polls on April 9 or postpone them to a later date – the most likely scenario in this case is May 14 or 21. Mr. Mitsotakis “banned” any discussion about the timing of the election in the Maximos Palace in the previous days, in deference to the memory of the dead and their families, and also because of the state of sadness and anger in which he fell after the national tragedy of Greek society.

As mentioned above, Mr. Mitsotakis is expected to “fix” the timing of the elections very soon, especially if they are held on April 9, pending issues such as the adoption of a number of bills and the date The question of the dissolution of Parliament should be settled. Those who believe that the elections should be “postponed” put forward as the main argument that the tragedy in Tempe will gradually fade into the background. Some even note that memorial services for the dead will be timed to coincide with the election day.

On the contrary, those who favor maintaining the prime minister’s original schedule point out that the railway tragedy will be a central issue in the political standoff, regardless of the time of the election. At the same time, they emphasize that all the political planning of N.D. led to the April 9 elections and should not be changed, while this is inconsistent with Mr Mitsotakis’ reputation for appearing to make critical decisions based on marginal partisanship. Finally, there are officials talking about a mini-postponement of the elections, with voting taking place a week after Easter, that is, on April 23. A specific date has a “minus” in that it can lead to re-questions in the middle of national exams. However, the elections were held in parallel with the 2012 pan-Hellenic elections without any problems.

Anti-system voting

All sides expect a new round of opinion polls to be held by the middle of next week to reflect the political fallout from the tragedy. The question that the party headquarters is occupied with is whether the tragedy caused anti-systemic reflexes in some voters, especially among young people. This particular scenario is reinforced by the fact that it is a given, and it will gradually become more apparent that the responsibility for the state of the railways is timeless and shared between the parties in power.

Dates

April 9 remains the preferred election date, but is no longer considered
the.

May 14 or 21 the two most common election dates in case a decision is made to postpone them.

In 2012 polling stations were set up at the same time as the Greek general examinations without any problems.

11.40 On Tuesday evening, the government was informed of the incident, as 30 ambulances and the first fire brigade vehicles had already arrived on the scene.