Silvio Berlusconi seeks lead role at Italian elections

Berlusconi, who first ruled Italy in 1994, was written off after his last government was sunk 11 years ago by a debt crisis and "bunga bunga" parties at his villa outside of Milan

Shrugging off old age, ill-health, sex scandals, and a criminal conviction, Silvio Berlusconi is in the thick of yet another Italian election campaign as the four-time prime minister battles for a central role after the vote.

Mr. Berlusconi, who will turn 86 four days after the September 25 ballot, looks sure to be on the winning side, even if he is now the junior partner in the rightist alliance he used to dominate.

Opinion polls give his conservative Forza Italia party around 8% of the vote. That compares with 12% for Matteo Salvini's League and 24% for Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy, its two hard-right allies.

Together, the bloc should easily prevail over its divided leftist and centrist opponents, the polls suggest.

Meloni looks set to carry the most clout in a future coalition, but she will probably still need Berlusconi's support to get it off the ground, allowing him to punch above his weight in terms of policy decisions and government posts.

Berlusconi, who first ruled Italy in 1994, was widely written off after his last government was sunk 11 years ago by a debt crisis and scandal over his "bunga bunga" sex parties at his villa outside Milan.

He was convicted of tax fraud in 2013, 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 is prone to confusion, yet retirement seems the last thing on the billionaire media magnate's mind.