Liguria Governor Giovanni Toti on
Thursday said he would stand as leader of three-time ex-premier
and media magnate Silvio Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia
(FI) party, saying the Berlusconi era was "over" after an
all-time low result in the European elections last month.
"We need primaries, Silvio must understand that an era is
over," said the former Berlusconi network newsman.
"Berlusconi cannot stand to lead the centre right," said
Tori.
The media mogul, 82, founded FI in 1993 and the following
year led it to the first of its three general-election
victories, defeating the post-Communist Left.
Following a lengthy office ban for tax fraud that ruled him
out of last year's general election, the FI leader won a seat in
the European Parliament in last month's European elections.
He returned to the fore as FI leader during that campaign,
campaigning energetically, but FI scored a disappointing 6.3% in
the vote, far below their result in the previous EP elections
and down from 14% at last year's general election.
The EP result was the same as that of a far-right nativist
party and ally which FI once dwarfed, Brothers of Italy (FdI).
By contrast the nationalist League, new top dog on the centre
right, scored 34%, double what it got in the general election in
March last year.
The League is still a local ally of FI and FdI but is allied
on the national government stage with the anti-establishment
5-Star Movement (M5S), whose scored halved to 17% in the EP vote
with respect to its general-election result.
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