After nine years, Berlusconi is returning to politics.
Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has announced that he will run for a seat in the Senate in next month’s elections and will try to return to public office after nine years.
The billionaire and media mogul launched a marketing campaign ahead of the announcement, telling state radio that “masses of people” from within the Forza Italia movement and beyond have asked him to run in the September 25 election.
Big screens in metro stations across the country show a younger version of Berlusconi with the message “Now more than ever – choose a side”.
He has led four governments since entering politics in 1994, but was temporarily banned from public office after a 2013 conviction for tax fraud.
The last government was dismissed amid a debt crisis and a scandal of sex parties known as “bunga bunga” at his villa near Milan.
Otherwise, the 85-year-old tried to become president of Italy in January, but did not run after realizing that he would not secure enough votes from parliamentarians.