Posted on 09/21/2022 5:16:15 AM PDT by FarCenter
Silvio Berlusconi will turn 86 next week but the scandal-plagued former Italian premier and billionaire media mogul has refused to retire and is leading his Forza Italia party into Sunday's general election.
His right-wing party is polling at just eight percent but looks set to enter government as part of a coalition led by far-right leader Giorgia Meloni.
"Il Cavaliere" (The Knight) is himself running for the Senate, almost a decade after being forced out over a conviction for tax fraud.
Berlusconi has rarely been seen in public during the campaign but his name and smiling face -- heavily photo-shopped -- are on all the posters.
He has also started his own TikTok channel, appearing in a smart suit to tell jokes or hail the success of his Monza football club.
There is speculation Berlusconi is angling for a job as head of the Senate after Sunday's vote, a last pitch for power after his bid to become Italy's president failed in January.
Few thought he had any chance of being elected to the largely ceremonial post by parliament but his candidacy was typical of a man who once compared himself to Napoleon and Jesus Christ.
In a recent TikTok video, Berlusconi delivered a verdict on Italy's other political leaders before adding of himself: "I have always been number one."
(Excerpt) Read more at france24.com ...
An 80+ politician who is refusing to retire? I wonder who else that could apply to.
But the media told us what a bad guy he is.
He’s ‘far right’ after all.
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