The former Italian prime minister has not been affected by health issues, sex scandals and advanced age Silvio Berlusconi He is stubbornly pursuing the promise he once made to his mother: one day he will become president.
Parliament will elect a new head of state early next year. The 85-year-old is the first to propose that he participates in a campaign that may change the political landscape of Italy but does not have a formal candidate.
There are major obstacles in his path, but he is improving himself with enthusiasm, which helped him win three parliamentary elections and become Italy’s longest-serving prime minister after the war.
“I have seen him twice in the past two weeks and he was completely irritated,” said one of Berlusconi’s Forza senator, who asked not to be named.
However, the billionaire media tycoon is a highly controversial figure. After being convicted of tax fraud in 2013, he was temporarily banned from holding public office and is still undergoing trial on charges of alleged underage prostitution in connection with his infamous “bunga bunga” sex party more than ten years ago Bribery of witnesses.
Analysts believe that such a divided personality will find it difficult to obtain the broad support needed to become a president. The holder of this role is a problem solver in Italian politics and is often asked-just like the current President Sergio Sergio Mattarella-resolve the government deadlock.
At present, the cross-party consensus is particularly important because almost all major parties have put their differences aside and joined Mario Draghi’s National Unity League, which aims to help Italy overcome the coronavirus crisis.
Enrico Letta, the leader of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), has ruled out the possibility of supporting Berlusconi. He said that the presidential election “must be based on a majority…otherwise the government will fall apart immediately.”
Despite political obstacles, Berlusconi is still advancing his unofficial campaign, presenting himself as an experienced European political veteran.
Presidential candidates usually do not announce themselves before parliamentary elections. However, Berlusconi’s name has been repeatedly mentioned in the media, and he has not tried to suppress speculation that he wants the job.
When asked about his presidential prospects at a meeting in October, he said: “I think Silvio Berlusconi can be useful to the country… I will not back down, I will do what my country needs. .”
In November, he sent a selection of his speeches and policy priorities to almost all the nearly 1,000 lawmakers who will elect the president, promising to abide by a set of liberal values in order to expand his appeal.
Suddenly turning around, he also praised the flagship citizen income welfare program of his main political enemy, the Five-Star Movement, which he had previously compared to the Communist Party.
The winning candidate needs two-thirds of the votes, but if no one reaches that goal in the first three rounds, the threshold will be reduced to 50% of the votes plus one.
If all the legislators on the center-right vote for him-this is a big assumption-Berlusconi still needs at least 50 votes, and he must obtain these votes from 113 non-partisan MPs in order for him to become a leader. .
As mathematics seems difficult, some analysts believe that Berlusconi just hopes to get a bargaining chip to put himself in the position of king maker.
Lorenzo De Sio, head of the Italian Election Research Center at the University of Luis in Rome, said: “If he himself is not considered credible, he has no bargaining power.”
