Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been elected again into the Italian Senate at the very young age of 86.
His election victory comes 9 years after he was convicted and kicked out for tax fraud.
The three-time former premier was ordered to serve community service and was banned from holding elected office, a ban which expired in 2018.
He won more than 50% of the votes in a Senate race in the northern constituency of Monza, where the billionaire owns a villa and the local soccer club, newly promoted to the Serie A top division.
He had major heart surgery in 2016, became badly ill with COVID in 2020 and has been in and out of hospital over the last year with various ailments. He often slurs his words and appeared to have trouble walking at a Rome rally last week.
Forza Italia was celebrating on Monday after a right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni and her Brothers of Italy party triumphed at the ballot boxes.
“I’m going to try to act as director in the (next) government,” Berlusconi told supporters after casting his vote.
He will have to give up a seat in the European Parliament, which he won in 2019, as serving in both the Italian and EU assemblies is not allowed.
Berlusconi is also currently part of a criminal trial, in which he is accused of paying starlets to keep quiet about his allegedly erotic dinner parties, known as ‘bunga bunga’.
