BARI, Italy—The Italian Senate on Wednesday expelled three-time former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi from Parliament over his tax fraud conviction. It puts an end his two-decade legislative run for now, but not his political career.
The Senate vote on whether to remove Berlusconi from the chamber stems from a 2012 law that bans anyone sentenced to more than two years in prison from holding or running for public office for six years. His lawyers claim the law is unconstitutional and have questioned the rush to expel him while legal challenges are still pending.
Italy’s high court on Aug. 1 upheld Berlusconi’s tax fraud conviction and four-year prison term stemming from his Mediaset empire’s purchase of television rights to U.S. films.
Out, but Not Gone
Although he won’t hold a seat in Parliament for at least six years, the 77-year-old Berlusconi pledged to remain involved in politics and told his followers not to despair—noting that other political leaders are not lawmakers. He relaunched his Forza Italia party and still commands millions of loyal supporters.
“Also from outside the Parliament, we can continue to fight for our liberty,” he said, citing the founder of the 5 Star Movement, Beppe Grillo, who is not a lawmaker, and Matteo Renzi, the Florence mayor who is a Democratic Party star widely tipped as a future premier candidate.
One key difference is that Berlusconi, no longer a lawmaker, has lost immunity from prosecution.
Power Status Quo
According to Nicola Piepoli, one of Italy’s leading pollsters and political analysts, the political landscape won’t be affected much by Berlusconi’s expulsion from the Senate.
According to Piepoli the distribution of votes will remain mostly the same, with or without Berlusconi.
“If the center-right has 30 percent of the votes, it has 30 percent with Berlusconi, but it will also have 30 percent without Berlusconi,” he said.
According to Piepoli, at the moment the center-left and the center-right would each get 33 percent of the vote, while Grillo’s 5 Star Movement would get 22 percent of the vote.
Public Reactions
While Il Giornale, a newspaper of the Berlusconi family, carried the headline “Democracy Slaughtered. But the Game is Not Over”—echoing Berlusconi’s words during his speech outside of his home Palazzo Grazioli while the Senate was voting—his political opponents were celebrating his defeat.
On Twitter, Beppe Grillo, posted: “#Berlusconi has lost his Senate post. The first is out. Now we have to kick off the others,” referring to the other allegedly corrupted MPs.
Nichi Vendola, leader of a left-wing opposition party tweeted: “The story of #Berlusconi in the Parliament it’s over. I hope this will be the start of a critical analysis of the twenty years of Berlusconi [in Italian politics].”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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