UDiscouraged by health problems, sex scandals and advanced age, former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi fiercely pursues a promise he once made to his mother: that he would one day become president.

Parliament will choose a new head of state early next year and the 85-year-old is running for a race that could transform Italy’s political landscape.

Candidates generally do not declare themselves before the election. However, Berlusconi’s name has been prominently featured in the media, and he has not tried to quell speculation that he wants the job.

“I have met him twice in the past two weeks and he was totally excited,” said a member of Berlusconi’s Forza Italia party, who asked to remain anonymous. Berlusconi, who was gravely ill with Covid-19 last year, continues his unofficial campaign, presenting himself as an experienced statesman in European politics.

The billionaire media mogul remains a very controversial figure, however. He was temporarily expelled from the civil service after a conviction for tax evasion in 2013 and is still on trial for allegedly bribing witnesses in a case of underage prostitution linked to his famous “bunga bunga” sex evenings ago. ten years.

Analysts believe such a controversial figure will struggle to muster the broad support needed to become president, a role the incumbent serves to solve problems in Italian politics and is regularly sought after – as incumbent Sergio has been. Mattarella – to resolve government dead ends.

Enrico Letta, leader of the center-left Democratic Party (PD), has already ruled out supporting Berlusconi. He said the president’s election “must be based on a large majority … otherwise the government will immediately collapse.”

Far-right parties, such as the Brothers of Italy, led by Giorgia Meloni, and the League, led by Matteo Salvini, do not seem convinced either.

In January, Salvini had declared that “Berlusconi would be a great president of the republic”, but last week seemed more detached. “All applicants over 50 are eligible, there is no one more or less eligible under Italian law,” he said.

Berlusconi, Italy’s longest-serving post-war prime minister – who said in October: “I think Silvio Berlusconi can be of use to the country” – last month sent an anthology of his speeches and political priorities to almost everyone. some 1,000 parliamentarians who will elect the president, committing to a list of liberal values ​​in order to broaden his appeal.

In a sharp turnaround, he also praised the flagship citizen income protection program of his major political enemy, the Five Star Movement, which he previously compared to the Communist Party.

The leader of the Union of Christian Democrats (UDC), Lorenzo Cesa, declared: “If Berlusconi is a candidate for the presidency of the republic, we have a duty to support him.

A winning candidate must get two-thirds of the vote, but if no one achieves that goal in the first three rounds, the bar is lowered to 50% plus one. With the calculations looking difficult, some analysts believe Berlusconi is simply hoping to gain leverage to put himself in a position to act as kingmaker.

Lorenzo De Sio, director of the Italian Center for Electoral Studies at LUISS University in Rome, said: “He has no negotiating power if he is not himself considered plausible.

In the meantime, the Italian national newspaper il Fatto Quotidiano has launched a petition to convince parliamentarians not to vote for him.

“The President of the Republic must be the guarantor of the constitution”, he declared. “Silvio Berlusconi is the guarantor of corruption and prostitution.

The newspaper then listed a long series of lawsuits and verdicts against Berlusconi and finally added: “For these reasons, we ask all parliamentarians not to vote him for the presidency of the republic. In fact, they shouldn’t even talk about it and, if possible, even think about it.

More than 160,000 people have already signed the petition.