You're reading: Italy’s Berlusconi says considering political return

ROME - Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said on Monday he was considering a political comeback for elections expected in March, but that the decision depended on who his centre-left adversaries selected as their main candidate.

A centre-left primary contest on Sunday left Democratic
Party (PD) leader Pier Luigi Bersani, 61, ahead of his younger
rival Matteo Renzi before a final runoff on Dec. 2, thanks
mainly to his strong support among traditional PD voters.

Renzi, the 37 year-old mayor of Florence who has run as a
moderniser, is mistrusted by many on the left of the PD but has
wider appeal among the broader electorate. A Renzi victory is
widely seen as a deterrent to a Berlusconi comeback.

In the latest of several switches of position, Berlusconi,
who has previously ruled out running, said Italy needed a
complete transformation following mounting popular disgust with
traditional politics.

“I think that it’s right for someone who had the honour of
leading the Italian government for almost 10 years to reflect on
the way to achieve this modernisation of Italy, this liberal
revolution,” he said, in an interview with his own Canale 5
television.

Berlusconi said he would decide what to do depending on
whether the left’s candidate turned out to be Renzi or former
communist Bersani. “With Renzi, Italy could have a Social
Democratic party like other countries such as Germany and
England have,” he said.