Italian Center-Right Parties Want Berlusconi Back As President

Former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi looks increasingly likely to run for president in elections that start later this month after Italy's center-right parties agreed on his candidacy, Johannes Neudecker reported for Deutsche Presse-Agentur (dpa).

Photo Insert: Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi

Manfred Weber, the conservative German politician who heads the European People's Party (EPP) group, also endorsed Berlusconi on Saturday. The pan-European EPP is composed of conservative and center-right parties from across the continent.

"As leader of the European People's Party, I support Berlusconi for the presidency of the republic because he has shown that he has the awareness to hold the office," Weber told the Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.

In Italy, the deputies, senators, and representatives of the 20 regions elect the president of the republic. To win, a two-thirds majority is needed in the first three rounds of voting. In the fourth, an absolute majority is sufficient. The first ballot is scheduled for Jan. 24.

Berlusconi, who was prime minister three times, has been tried for corruption after what was dubbed "Rubygate" affair. He was also tried for bribing witnesses and a musician in connection with his "bunga bunga parties" with young women but was acquitted last year.

Meanwhile, leading leftist lawmakers have criticized his plans to stand. Giuseppe Conte, who leads the populist Five Star Movement, described his candidacy as an unthinkable option.

"The figure of the president of the republic must reflect a high and undisputed moral profile. I don't think Berlusconi can boast these requirements," leftist politician Loredana de Petris tweeted on Saturday.

Germany's Social Democrats also criticized Weber for supporting Berlusconi on Saturday, calling the decision to back him strange, given the fact that far-right lawmakers are also behind him.

Democrats should be unanimous in not making common cause "with the radical right-wing enemies of democracy, parliamentary group vice-chairman Achim Post said, in comments directed to Berlusconi.

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