SYRIZA: Immune to anti-systemic sentiment?

SYRIZA leader Alexis Tsipras speaks with workers at the central depot of the Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) in Renti, western Athens, on March 2. The leftist party believes that the government lost all credibility the moment the crash happened. [AMNA]

"People know we're not all the same." This is how leftist SYRIZA's leadership has chosen to interpret the new political landscape. Anger over the deadly rail accident at Tempe may have grown into a democratic explosion at Syntagma and other public squares and produced a fresh surge of anti-systemic sentiment, but the main opposition party believes it will not be at its expense, according to a high-ranking party official who spoke to Kathimerini.

The noise on social media and the apparent rising popularity of smaller parties is shaping a situation similar to May 2012, which is being closely watched. Those were the elections that crushed the usual big players and brought seven parties into Parliament, while four more missed the 3% threshold needed to enter the House, all together gleaning 665,920 votes.

Given the mood, SYRIZA is managing the situation cautiously. Its...

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