Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi on
Friday dismissed talk of his centre-right Forza Italia (FI)
party being in the doldrums.
"Forza Italia is in excellent health, there are no
significant losses (of members)," Berlusconi said in a
statement.
"On the contrary, new local administrators are coming in from
civil experiences, from the north to the south".
The media billionaire said he wanted to "clarify a series of
news stories about Forza Italia that could determine mistakes
and misunderstandings about our political prospects".
Berlusconi was referring in particular to a story in daily
newspaper Libero with the headline "Silvio is founding a party
to anger Salvini".
Some recent opinion polls have put FI's support at under 10%.
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