Rail safety activist Maria Karystianou formally entered Greek politics Thursday, rolling out a new party named "Hope for Democracy" with a platform strong on anti-establishment rhetoric and support for policies ranging from animal welfare to fighting price-gouging and corruption.
"We have not come to become part of a rotten system, but to clash with [the system] that has destroyed our trust," she said, during an often emotional speech in the northern city of Thessaloniki.
"We are not professional politicians afraid of losing our seats, we are people who have nothing to fear."
The 53-year-old pediatrician's 19-year-old daughter was among the 57 victims of the 2023 Tempe rail accident - a head-on smash between a passenger train and a freight train that had been allowed onto the same track, speeding in opposite directions.
The disaster, many of whose victims were students in their teens and twenties, shocked Greek society, revealed severe safety lapses in the country's railway network and triggered massive protests amid claims of government interference in the investigation.
