Silvio Berlusconi has pledged to relaunch his Forza Italia party this year and force out the centre-left government of Matteo Renzi, according to a local press report. The former Italian prime minister, 79, has kept a low profile since he was convicted of tax evasion and banned from public office in 2013, but he has promised to return to the frontlines of Italian politics and restore the rightwing party he once led.
This year “will be the year of the battle against the regime of the left which suspended democracy”, Berlusconi told the local newspaper Il Giornale – a reference to Renzi, who took office in an internal power struggle within his Democratic party (PD) but has yet to win a parliamentary election.
Berlusconi reportedly called for parliament to be dissolved and new elections, adding that his own ousting had been unconstitutional.
The media magnate won three national elections over 14 years before he was forced out of office by a tax fraud conviction and sex scandals.
In the interview, published on Saturday, he is also said to have dismissed suggestions of friction between Forza Italia and the other two parties of the centre-right, the anti-immigrant Northern League and the far-right Brothers of Italy.
He said the three would present a united front in mayoral elections due this year in Rome, Milan, Naples and Bologna.
The centre-right has often been divided since the 2013 parliamentary election. The Northern League has maintained its hardline opposition to the government, while Berlusconi has wavered between modest opposition and collaboration with Renzi.
According to opinion polls, if all three centre-right parties joined forces they could be a threat to Renzi’s PD, which is the only major party on the centre-left.
The next parliamentary election is due in 2018, but commentators speculate it could come earlier as a result of instability in Renzi’s ruling coalition.
“My commitment is to take Forza Italia back to above 20% so that the centre-right can win the elections at the first round, surpassing 40%,” Berlusconi said.
A new electoral law introduced by Renzi requires a runoff ballot between the two largest parties if none obtain 40% of votes in the first round.