DISASTER STRUCK CHORD
The rail disaster on the Athens-Thessaloniki route, which killed 57 people, led to protests over the safety shortcomings of an underfunded and poorly maintained network, the legacy of a decade-long financial crisis which ended in 2018. Mitsotakis said the "painful and traumatic" experience of the disaster highlighted deficiencies the state still had.
"Overturning all these is a clear priority for the next day," Mitsotakis said.
Analysts say the disaster turned a perception of Mitsotakis's administration as getting things done on its head.
"Public fury and negative emotions have multiplied, and hit
the main narrative of this government, which was that it changed
Greece," pollster Costas Panagopoulos told Reuters.
"It will be crucial to see whether a protest vote will
prevail, or if the government narrative of stability will,"
Panagopoulos, head of Alco polling agency, said.
Syriza leader Alexis Tsipras, whom Mitsotakis unseated in
2019, said the days of New Democracy in government were
numbered.
"This adventure is coming to an end. Just a few more weeks
of patience," he said.
Syriza has said it is open to taking part in a coalition
government, as has the Socialist PASOK, on condition that
Mitsotakis or Tsipras are not prime ministers. The present
administration oversaw an increase in social inequalities, an
undermining of the rule of law and corruption, its leader Nikos
Androulakis said.
"Today he announced the end of his failure of a government,"
Androulakis said.
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EXPLAINER: Greece gears for election on May 21, how the system
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(Additional reporting by Karolina Tagaris and Lefteris
Papadimas; Writing by Michele Kambas; Editing by Alex
Richardson, Bernadette Baum, Alexandra Hudson and Angus MacSwan)
