It’s never too late to come back. Ten years after being ousted from the Italian Parliament due to a conviction for tax evasion, the former head of government intends to return there. Silvio Berlusconi declared on Wednesday August 10 that he hoped to return during the legislative elections scheduled for September 25. “I think that in the end, I will run as a candidate for the Senate, so that all these people who have asked me to finally be happy”the 85-year-old billionaire and media mogul told Rai radio.
After helping to bring down Prime Minister Mario Draghi last month by withdrawing his support, the center-right Forza Italia party of rider seems ready to return to power with the elections of deputies and senators.
A politician embroiled in numerous trials
Silvio Berlusconi served three times as Prime Minister of Italy, in the 1990s and 2000s, but dominated public life for much longer at the head of a vast media and sports empire.
The Senate expelled him in November 2013 after his conviction for tax evasion. He was also banned from participating in a legislative election for six years, but he was however elected to the European Parliament in 2019. Extremely controversial in Italy, he is entangled in many trials that have marked his long career, including the one where he is accused of having paid guests to lie about his famous “bunga-bunga” parties, the orgies organized when he was Prime Minister.
He has also suffered from a series of health problems, some of which related to his hospitalization for Covid in 2020.
