Berlusconi closing in with month to go to Italy vote

January 25 2013 17:31:57

Berlusconi closing in with month to go to Italy vote

ROME - Agence France-Presse

REUTERS photo

Former premier Silvio Berlusconi’s zealous campaigning is closing the gap between the center-right and left a month before the Italian general elections, though the scandal-tainted media magnate still trails cigar-chomping former Communist Luigi Bersani.

“The right has certainly been boosted by Silvio Berlusconi’s television campaign,” poll expert Renato Mannheimer told Agence France-Presse.

The three-time premier, who is angling for a return to politics in the Feb. 24 and 25 elections, spent 63 hours and 19 minutes campaigning on 54 television and radio programs between Dec. 24 and Jan. 14, according to La Stampa newspaper.

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