Berlusconi endorses opposing candidate in rally confusion

Former Italian PM inadvertently campaigns for opposition in local election

Even Homer nods, or in this case scores an own goal. Former prime minister of Italy Silvio Berlusconi got his campaign rallies confused the other night, the 78-year-old media tycoon spending some time telling people in Segrate, near Milan, to vote for "Paolo", only to discover to his embarrassment that Paolo was in fact the opposing centre-left candidate.

Late at night and at the end of a long week of campaigning for today's local elections, mistakes can happen. Mr Berlusconi had driven from his home in Arcore, near Milan, to support the Forza Italia candidate in the Segrate mayoral election.

He and his six-man team of bodyguards pulled into the centre of Segrate, where they immediately found a street-festival political rally. No party flags were in sight but there were stands and platforms aplenty.

Without further ado, Mr Berlusconi got out of his car and began walking around the piazza, shaking hands and pausing for the inevitable “selfies” with the mainly young people present. He then asked someone for the name of the candidate. When he was told that it was “Paolo”, he then continued making his way around the piazza telling people to “vote for Paolo”.

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Paolo is Paolo Micheli, mayoral candidate for the centre-left. The Forza Italia candidate, Tecla Fraschini, was at a nearby sports complex, winding up her campaign. Eventually the penny dropped: someone in the Berlusconi entourage remembered their candidate was a woman, not a "Paolo".

Mr Berlusconi immediately headed for the sports complex. Mr Micheli’s Facebook page was quickly amended: “Now that Berlusconi has endorsed me, it’s in the bag.”

Mr Berlusconi, who still wears pancake make-up and sports a head of unnatural-looking hair, has returned to active political life following his recently concluded, year-long ban from public life because of a conviction for tax evasion. So far, however, these elections involving seven Italian regions have only served to remind us of his declining electoral pull.

In the 2013 general election, his People Of Freedom (PDL) party proved the biggest in the country, claiming 37.4 per cent of the vote. In today’s elections, his Forza Italia party may be down to 12 per cent. Not even renaming the party as Forza Italia, in an obvious attempt to relive the halcyon years of his “taking to the pitch” of politics in 1994, seems to have garnered many votes.

In the key regional presidency elections, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) of prime minister Matteo Renzi is expected to win at least four if not five of the seven contests. Even if the PD is unlikely to repeat its massive 40.8 per cent success at last year's European elections, it is still expected to return a 35 per cent vote.