Former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, who was convicted of tax evasion in 2013, is back in the Senate.
According to Italian media, the conservative leader in the Monza region was elected on the eve of turning 86, surpassing centre-left candidate Federica Perelli. With 284 of the 739 divisions of that district already counted, Berlusconi received 49.88% of the vote and Perelli 27.41%.
As it is the majority college, only the candidate with the most votes is elected – the Italian electoral system is mixed and also ensures proportional elections for Parliament.
The result represents Berlusconi’s victory in an election that demoted the conservative Forza Italia (FI) party to the third most voted post in the right-wing coalition, behind the ultranationalist Brothers of Italy (FdI). Giorgia Melony. and Liga by Matteo Salvini.
Together, these three parties are on the way to gain a majority in the Parliament and give the country a government composed of parties from the same political field for the first time in nearly 10 years.
Berlusconi was a senator between March and November 2013, when he was disenfranchised due to his eventual conviction for tax evasion involving media company Mediaset.
However, in 2018 the impropriety came to an end that allowed the former prime minister to be elected to the European Parliament the following year.
Berlusconi is responding to several prosecutions for bribing witnesses, in one of which the Milan Public Ministry demanded that he be sentenced to six years in prison.
For the past few weeks, rumors have circulated that the Conservative coalition might try to elect the former prime minister as head of the Senate.
source: Noticias
