“Make me prime minister for a day, and I’ll show you how I can change Greece.” This popular saying aptly captures the spirit of the new political party, Hope for Democracy, launched by Maria Karystianou on Thursday.
Reading out a declaration of party positions teeming with tired cliches – “our goal is to protect the precious commodity of health,” “every action and decision we make must serve and promote the public interest,” “we seek to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity on the basis of international law” – Karystianou made her political debut at the Olympion Theater in Thessaloniki, to a crowd of roughly 500 angry citizens of no clearly defined political affiliation.
Some of the key traits of the new party include waging “war” against vested interests, resisting reforms, a pro-Russia leaning rhetoric reminiscent of the anti-vaccination movement, plenty of religious piousness and a very heavy dose of conspiracy-fueled populism. One of the stars of the event was an actress who, in her brief speech, railed about the need to “restore democracy in this country.”
As the mother of one of the 57 victims of the 2023 Tempe railway tragedy and a vocal proponent in the movement demanding that the people responsible be held to account, Karystianou has the unequivocal support and compassion of hundreds of thousands of citizens who know that their own child could have been in the place of her daughter, 19-year-old Marthi. In her new role as a party leader looking to govern the country, however, she can’t even convince the rest of the victims’ families.
