A marathon session of Parliament that began on Wednesday morning and ended in the early morning hours of Thursday bordered on the absurd, with 14 ballot boxes set up to receive a total of 4,200 ballots cast by 297 deputies voting for three different proposals tabled by parties to establish a preliminary committee of inquiry into the February 2023 Tempi rail collision.

Each proposal, in fact, named a different set of individuals to be investigated as offenders, mostly on dereliction of duty charges.

Although an intensive and months-long investigation overseen by an appellate level magistrate based in Larissa is expected to soon submit an indictment that charges several people – mostly staff of the state-run Hellenic Railways Organization (OSE) – with various counts of criminal negligence, opposition parties have insisted on holding high-profile Parliamentary committee hearings into the liability of ministers whose portfolios included the railways network – irrespective of the independent judiciary.

All political leaders took to the podium in what often turned into an acrimonious proceeding.

After a marathon session lasting over 12 hours—and nearly 18 with the exhaustive voting—Parliament voted by majority to establish a preliminary investigation committee for Kostas A. Karamanlis, based on New Democracy’s proposal to probe a misdemeanor charge of dereliction of duty. The aim is a fast-track process and referral to a judicial council. The proposal to indict Karamanlis passed with 154 votes in favor and 13 against.

As for the proposal by four parties to indict Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis himself, and the extreme accusations of “high treason,” it was rejected by 159 MPs, with only 38 in favor, which is to be expected as Parliament is mostly held by New Democracy parliamentarians.

Mitsotakis criticized the proceedings, which he called a “vile attempt by four fringe opposition parties to turn a national tragedy into a grotesque political conspiracy.”