ROME (HRWN) – Silvio Berlusconi has done it again — the 85-year-old former prime minister returns to parliament after winning a seat in Italy s Senate, nine years after he was kicked out for fraud.
Berlusconi s Forza Italia was celebrating on Monday after a right-wing coalition led by Giorgia Meloni and her post-fascist Brothers of Italy party triumphed at the ballot boxes.
And the media mogul himself, dubbed “the immortal” for his longevity in politics, scored a seat in Monza, where he owns a Serie A football club.
The billionaire was forced out of the upper house of parliament in 2013 after being convicted of corporate tax fraud.
It was the heaviest blow of his political career and he declared a “day of mourning for democracy”.
The three-time former premier was ordered to serve community service and was banned for several years from holding elected office.
That ban expired in 2018 but it would take him a while to recover his shine. His bid to become Italy s president failed in January.
But at this, his ninth general election — and perhaps his last — Berlusconi bounced back.
He campaigned largely on social media, clocking up over 600,000 followers on TikTok in just a month, and wooing the youth vote with grandad jokes.