Silvio Berlusconi is once again relying on female candidates to woo wavering voters, after recruiting a new crop of models and showgirls as candidates for his Forza Italia party for the general election in March.
The newspaper Il Fatto Quotidiano, which is not among the former premier’s admirers, ran the headline, “With B. it’s always Forza Crumpet,” on its report about his list of candidates.
Still remembered for his “bunga bunga” sex parties and on trial for allegedly paying witnesses to lie about them, the leader, 81, appears to have been forgiven by Italian voters, who have been boosting his party and a rightist coalition it might lead in opinion polls. The country will go to the polls on March 4.
Il Fatto pointed to a number of women as candidates likely to stand. They include some of those who had attended Berlusconi’s dinners, and a party organiser, who has apparently incurred the ire of his partner, Francesca Pascale, for her links with the tycoon and former prime minister.
Other faces expected to attract male voters include Matilde Siracusano, a finalist in the Miss Italia beauty pageant in 2005, and Mara Carfagna, a former showgirl who served as equal opportunities minister in a previous Berlusconi government.
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Also expected to be on the list is Ylenia Citino, who participated in a popular dating programme on one of Mr Berlusconi national television channels. Ms Citino is no slouch on the intellectual front, however: her book on the history of party financing from fascism to the present day was published in 2013, with a foreword by Mr Berlusconi.
One person who was not considered for a candidacy was Ambra Battilana Gutierrez, an Italo-Filipina model who has testified about the abusinve sexual behaviour of both Mr Berlusconi and Harvey Weinstein.
Ms Battilana said she was planning to make a film based on her experience of being in Mr Berlusconi’s racy inner circle.
Now in the guise of grandfather and responsible elder statesman, Mr Berlusconi was today reported to have assured European leaders that he will not allow the anti-European populists of the Northern League — his allies in a centre-right coalition with the ex- fascist Brothers of Italy — anywhere near the levers of power.
La Repubblica said Mr Berlusconi had given the confidential assurance to Jean-Claude Juncker, the president of the European Commission, and Manfred Weber, leader of the European Popular Party, during a visit to Brussels at the beginning of last week.
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The paper said Mr Berlusconi had assured the EU leaders that the outcome of the election would be a broad cross-party coalition that exluded the anti-European populists of the League and the maverick Five Star Movement.
“It’s no discovery that Berlusconi doesn’t want to win the elections. And that he prefers a broad coalition government rather than one with (Matteo) Salvini and (Giorgia) Meloni (the League and Brothers of Italy leaders),” La Repubblica quoted Maurizio Lupi, a Forza Italia ally, as saying.