The mogul and former prime minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi, leader of one of the parties that make up the right-wing coalition that won the legislative elections, was re-elected to a seat in the Senate, nine years after being expelled from the House for tax fraud.
Berlusconi, 85, was elected to represent Monza, in the north of the country, where he owns a Serie A football team. He returns to the legislature under the banner of his Force, Italy party, which won just over 8% of the vote. and that makes up the coalition with two other far-right parties that should lead Giorgia Meloni to be the country’s prime minister.
The victory at the polls has a taste of revenge for Berlusconi, a billionaire dubbed the “immortal” because of his long trajectory in Italian politics. A prime minister for three terms, he referred to his own expulsion from the Senate in 2013 as a “day of mourning for democracy”.
His current girlfriend, Marta Fascina, 32, also surfed in popularity and was elected deputy representing a region that she herself admitted she didn’t know deeply.
Berlusconi’s ninth election campaign — and what many believe to be his last due to the politician’s advanced age — has had a huge boost on social media. Adopting a style of “big jokes”, he gained more than 600,000 followers on his profile on TikTok, a social network marked by the presence of teenagers – many of whom were not even born when Berlusconi entered politics.
In a video with more than a million views, the former premier brags about his own reflection when killing a fly. In another, he jokes about stealing girlfriends from 18-year-olds.
“I’ve always been number one,” Berlusconi says in the video, flashing the same broad smile he often wears on camera, especially with his two coalition partners, likely future Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of the Brothers of Italy party, and Matteo Salvini, from the League.
Berlusconi accumulates a series of health problems, in addition to sex scandals and criminal convictions. Despite the long and controversial record, the billionaire uses his political capital accumulated over decades to present himself as a great negotiator within the coalition.
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