While the world may believe most Italians are Berlusconis, this is not the case. Indeed, well over 80% are not. Here are the numbers which show this.
In Italy’s February 2013 elections, 42,270,824 million Italians had the right to vote for candidates proposed for Italy’s senate. Of the 42 million, only 6,829,587 voted for Silvio Berlusconi directly. In percentage terms, this means just over 16% of Italians voted Berlusconi, so 84%, the vast majority, did not. The situation is similar in Italy’s lower house, the chamber of deputies.
Back in February in Italy’s chamber of deputies, out of a total of 46,905,154 voters, only 7,332,972 put a cross next to Berlusconi’s name – 15.6%. Here too, 84% did not vote for Berlusconi directly.
Tens of millions of Italians did not vote for Berlusconi.
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Why the difference in voting numbers? Quite simple, Italians have to be over 25 before they can vote for senate candidates.
As is crystal clear from the numbers, relatively few Italians chose Berlusconi. Others who like to lean to the right, opted for groups which form part of the Berlusconi coalition, but they did not vote for Berlusconi directly. And the numbers of direct votes for Berlusconi in Italy’s 2013 elections were well down on the 2008 elections.
In 2013, quite a number of Italians did not even bother voting at all.
Support for Silvio Berlusconi is dwindling and is likely to fall even further in light of his recent conviction. Despite this though, some, mainly Italy’s politicians tend to think the fast fading political career of Berlusconi is worth saving. They are even prepared to put up with his blackmail attempts. Why? The overwhelming majority clearly understand Berlusconi is poison.
Source for the election results: http://elezioni.interno.it/
