Socialism in Greece

SYRIZA press spokeswoman Popi Tsapanidou has taken aim at the government over a recent US State Department report on the human rights situation in Greece.

The truth is that SYRIZA does not have the moral high ground to call for the removal of Kostas A. Karamanlis (III), who resigned as transport minister in the conservative administration following the deadly train collision, from the New Democracy party ticket. Not because the main leftist opposition does not have a say on the issue.

The telecommand system of the railway network at Larissa station in northern Greece was the focus, to a large extent, of the confrontation between ruling New Democracy and main opposition SYRIZA in Monday's marathon session of Parliament's Institutions and Transparency Committee.

The difference between ruling New Democracy and SYRIZA is down to 3.6 points, according to a poll conducted by Alco for Alpha TV between March 13 and 17 on a nationwide sample of 1,001 voters.

More specifically, New Democracy leads the pack regarding voter intentions with 28.4%, followed by leftist opposition SYRIZA with 24.8% and center-left PASOK in third with 9.3%.

The political landscape reflected in public opinion polls almost three weeks after the rail tragedy at Tempe is causing a commotion in the ranks of the country's political parties, as "nobody" has gained popularity among the burgeoning section of undecided voters: They shot up to 12.5% in the latest survey conducted by Pulse for Skai, from 9.5% just a month earlier.

All opinion polls published since the rail tragedy at Tempe, on the last night of February, that left 57 dead and exposed the shoddiness of the country's rail infrastructure and operations, concur that the ruling conservative New Democracy party, although still in the lead, has lost significant ground.

A poll by the Pulse company for Skai TV gives ruling New Democracy a lead over main opposition SYRIZA, but with a drop in its share and a narrowing of the gap.

A new opinion poll suggests ruling New Democracy's lead over main opposition SYRIZA has narrowed, with 2.9 percentage points now separating the parties.

The MRB poll for Open TV on voting intentions put New Democracy at 27.4% (down from 30.2%), SYRIZA at 24.5% (up from 24.3%) and PASOK-Movement for Change at 9% (-1).

Former transport and infrastructure minister Konstantinos Karamanlis, who resigned in the aftermath of the deadly train collision in central Greece that left 57 people dead and scores injured, will appear before the parliament's Institutions and Transparency Committee next Monday to testify about the accident and the state of the Greek railways.

"People know we're not all the same." This is how leftist SYRIZA's leadership has chosen to interpret the new political landscape.