Silvio Berlusconi appears to be
boosting the standings of his Forza Italia (FI) party after
starting to campaign for the European Parliament elections
despite an office ban from a tax-fraud conviction that will mean
him spending half a day a week in a home for Alzheimer's
patients.
FI's rating was 19.5%, 0.5% up from the previous week, in a
poll released by the Piepoli Institute late Wednesday.
Premier Matteo Renzi's Democratic Party held tight to a
10-point lead over Beppe Grillo's anti-establishement 5-Star
MOvement, both steady on 34% and 24%.
Other polls have seen the unsinkable Berlusconi touching
20% as he seeks to reel Grillo in with a characteristic
fusillade of controversial soundbites including a German
deathcamp slur and repeated assertions he is the victim of a
political coup by leftist magistrates abetted by Italian
President Giorgio Napolitano.
Analysts have frequently said Berlusconi's ratings go up
when he manages to successfully portray himself as the victim of
an alleged witch hunt.
He is expected to milk his four-hours-a week gig at a
nursing home near Milan as much as he can, despite the care
managers' insistence he was not be able to get up to any high
jinks.
Berlusconi is also knowingly inviting a conversion of his
community service into house arrest, pundits say, so he can play
up his allegedly persecuted status.
Berlusconi's eldest daughter Marina, a top exec at his media
empire, this week reversed a string of denials she might try to
fill her father's political boots, but pundits are skeptical as
to whether she will carry the dynastic banner forward on the
centre right
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