The tragedy of the deadly train crash at Tempe brought pain, sadness and anger to all Greek households.

Every resident of this country rightly wonders how it is possible for so many people to die because a train station employee did not turn a key and because the state diachronically did not take care to protect the lives of citizens.

Obviously, the disaster occurred due to a tragic human error, and possibly due to a sense of complacency and the idea that human errors do not occur.

Unfortunately, they do.

All the rest will be recorded by the (independent, I hope) experts that the government pledged to appoint.

The evidence will be probed (exhaustively, I hope) by the judiciary, pursuant to the clear and categorical order of Supreme Court Prosecutor Isidoros Dogiakos.

Naturally, the new government that is formed after the upcoming elections will undertake the task of correcting existing problems.

Thankfully, in contradistinction to the other “chronic dysfunction”, which is the internecine trading of charges, the train of democracy is never derailed.

If we want to attach meaning to the pain, suffering and anger, the only way to do so is by recognising the responsibilities of all of us regarding this tragic event.

For now, the immediate question which the PM must answer concerns the timing of the general election.

April 9 remains a possible date for the election, as Parliament must be dissolved by 19 March.

The prime minister is expected to decide by 10 March, after we somehow return to political activity, which was interrupted by a national mourning, unless reasons arise to change planning.

Whatever date the PM chooses, it will be a risky decision.

If he postpones the election until May, that will change months of planning which until now was proceeding smoothly.

If he insists on going to the polls on 9 April, which is the expected date, before anger subsides, the campaign will be in danger of being derailed and of stirring a repulsive fray, which no citizen wants.

In any event, even if the government is not directly implicated in the train tragedy, it bears the general, political responsibility for affairs. As everyone knows, electoral campaigns are not the epitome of calm and prudence.

That is all the more true given the fact that for months many have been ready to pick a fight.

I.K. Pretenteris

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