Silvio Berlusconi is a former prime minister and has been predicted to continue his run as Italy’s next President.
This 85-year old media mogul, who is well-known for organizing sex parties called ‘bunga-bunga,’ remains Italy’s longest-serving post-war leader. He has been elected three times.
He has been repeatedly in trouble with the law, including being convicted in tax fraud 2013 and having a host of other health issues. However, his political longevity was once referred to previously as “the immortal”.
And now, those within his centre-right Forza Italia party, which he led for more than two decades, are tipping him to make one final run for the top job.
Antonio Tajani was the deputy leader and said to the Sunday Telegraph, “It would have been a dream.”
“Many of us have asked” [to run]. He smiles when you raise the topic with him.
Silvio Berlusconi (former prime minister) is expected to continue his run as Italy’s next President
Berlusconi is now known as the “elder statesman” in Italy’s Right wing bloc. However, he has not entered the race officially but is believed to be running behind the scenes.
If he enters the race, the right-wing bloc that includes Forza Italia and Matteo Salvini’s Northern League as well as Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy is expected to support him.
Berlusconi, a former crooner who became a property and media mogul, was the Italian prime minister three times between 1994-2011.
Berlusconi is no stranger to scandal. He was once known for calling former US President Barack Obama “suntanned”. A public scandal erupted over Berlusconi’s private villa’s ‘bungabunga’ sex parties where females would strip, after it emerged that there had been allegations of some women being underage.
Recent years have seen the Forza Italy party lose popularity among voters as Berlusconi has been fighting legal problems related to his media and sex parties.
His Senate seat was forfeited after he was found guilty of tax fraud. He is currently an EU legislator.
The flamboyant billionaire underwent open heart surgery in 2016 and has been in and out of hospital all this year due to complications relating to a coronavirus infection which saw him hospitalised for 11 days last September.
Despite this, his fans insist his bid for the presidency is serious.
Mr Tajani described Berlusconi as ‘an extraordinary captain of industry, a great man of sport… and a great political leader’, before adding: ‘Why should he retire? He will always be the founding father of the centre-Right.’
The former owner of AC Milan, who made his media fortune in the 1960s, entered politics in early 1994 and served three separate terms as the Italian prime minister.
He has been embroiled in countless investigations over the course of his career and has been convicted of tax fraud, but has also been accused of many other crimes including embezzlement, bribery, abuse of office and child prostitution.
Despite the investigations, Berlusconi was elected back into parliament in 2019, further prolonging his decades-long career in Italian politics.
Berlusconi has also had a string of health issues in the past two decades.
In late 2006 he was admitted to hospital with a minor heart problem after fainting, and underwent heart surgery in a US hospital in January 2007.
He later had major heart surgery in 2016 and has also survived prostate cancer, which he revealed in 2000 after having endured the disease for three years.
At the time he described his cancer battle as ‘a nightmare lasting months’, but said his battle with coronavirus last September had been the ‘most dangerous challenge’ of his life.
The former Prime Minister was previously convicted of paying £6 million to underage Moroccan prostitute Karima El Mahroug, also known as ‘Ruby the heart-stealer’ for sexual services between February and May 2010, but was later found not guilty on appeal.
However, he was then put on trial again on suspicion he had bribed defence witnesses, with one trial ending in an acquittal in October, while two others are still pending.
The 85-year-old media tycoon, infamous for his ‘bunga bunga’ sex parties, remains Italy’s longest serving post war leader, having been in office three times. Pictured (right) alongside Moamer Kadhafi in 2010
This flamboyant billionaire was admitted to hospital for open heart surgery in 2016. Berlusconi speaks to the media following his positive test for coronavirus in Milan.
He would become the president if he was to be elected.
Gianfranco Rotrondi, an experienced Forza Italia MP and former minister under Berlusconi’s former government stated that his boss had a “50-50 chance” to win in the elections which begin around January 20.
Lorenzo Castellani was a Rome-based political historian and said he foresaw Berlusconi’s attempts to disappear, but expected him as ‘one the kingmakers’ during the presidential election.
The frontrunner in January’s elections is currently Mario Draghi, the current prime minister, while sitting president Sergio Mattarella has also been mentioned as a credible option, despite saying he wants to retire.
Italian presidents can be elected secretly by around 1,000 regional and national legislators.