Orkhan Sattarov, the head of the European bureau of Vestnik Kavkaza
Who could imagine that a European politician convicted of for tax dodging, involved in sexual scandals and thrown down from the political Olympia in the context of the growing economic crisis and troubles in his party would have the chance to return to big politics? For example, French socialist Dominique Strsuss-Kahn was turned from a promising presidential candidate into a political corpse only due to an accusation of rape, which wasn’t confirmed later. However, 77-year old Silvio Berluskoni who resigned in late 2011 doesn’t think his situation is hopeless. The Italian billionaire and media magnate is active participating in the election campaign. Despite all prejudices, he is earning popularity among voters. At the same time, the Italian politician still follows his eccentric style and makes a compliment to fascist Benito Mussolini in the midst of the election campaign. In spite of criticism by his political rivals and prominent social representatives, Berluskoni’s popularity is growing.
The recipe of his success is simple: he promises people what they want. The former prime minister promises benefits which are not promised by socialist Monti, democrat Bersani, and the former comic and current popular blogger Grillo. For example, Berluskoni announced cancelation of the wealth tax and return of paid wealth taxes in last year to people – about 70% of population of Italia. The other benefit for voters is financial amnesty for people who have evaded taxes until now – by the way, in Italy this practice is as popular as in many countries of the CIS. At last, Berluskoni promised legalization of illegally built houses. All these pre-election promises seriously boosted chances of Berluskoni for success in the elections. In January Berluskoni’s party “Forza Italia” fell behind the left-wing alliance headed by Pierluigi Bersani by 12 points, but today the gap is only 5 points. It is unclear whether the tendency will continue or not: from February 9 publication of political ranking is forbidden as it can influence the elections’ results.
According to Berluskoni’s opponents such indirect bribery of voters is irresponsive, considering the fact that Italian economy is burdening heavy foreign debt. Berluskoni’s return in office is dangerous for the euro zone, the technical Premier Mario Monti is sure. The German mass media agrees with him – they directly agitate against Berluskoni. Spiegel calls the choice between Berluskoni and Bersani “a choice between stomach and head”, hinting the Italians that voting for the former prime minister is not smart.
However, even if the right-wing wins the elections, Berluskoni will hardly take Premier’s seat: he promised to yield the position of Prime Minister to his partners in case of the victory. The ambiguous situation in Italy demands involvement of all political forces. For instance, Democrats who were sure in their easy victory are threatened by popularity of “unsinkable” Beruskoni. Whether these elections will be his new success or final failure, we will see soon.
