Bloomberg.com: Berlusconi Wins Italian Election, Set for Third Term ( Italians vote in favor of self destruction) - by Steve Scherer and Flavia Krause

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Berlusconi Wins Italian Election, Set for Third Term (Italians vote in favor of self-destructions) - by Steve Scherer and Flavia Krause-Jackson)

Billionaire media mogul Silvio Berlusconi won a majority in both houses of the Italian parliament and will return to power for a third term as premier. Berlusconi's People of Liberty party and its allies took 166 seats in the Senate, the upper house, to 138 for Walter Veltroni's Democratic Party and its partner, according to a projection by RAI state television. In the Chamber of Deputies, Berlusconi took 45.9 percent of the vote compared with Veltroni's 38.9 percent, RAI estimated. That would give Berlusconi about 340 lower-house seats out of 630. ``Berlusconi is back,'' said Maurizio Pessato, chief executive officer of polling company SWG Srl in Trieste, Italy. ``With this result, he can last.''

Note EU-Digest: The question might not be if he can last, but if the Italians can survive? Italy deserves better.