Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi will return to frontline politics as the centre-right candidate in next year's general election, a senior official in his PDL party was quoted as saying.
"Yes, Berlusconi is the candidate for premier," Fabrizio Cicchito, PDL parliamentary leader told Italian news agencies "Il Corriere della Sera" after a meeting of the party leadership at Berlusconi's Rome residence.
He said the return of Berlusconi, the undisputed master of a party built up entirely around himself, meant there would be no primaries to find a candidate, as had been originally expected.
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An earlier report by newspaper "Il Corriere della Sera"said Berlusconi had based his decision on opinion polls which showed his People of Freedom (PDL) party could win up to 30 percent with him as its head instead of current leader Angelino Alfano, a former justice minister.
"The PDL without Berlusconi would only get 10 percent, while if Alfano presented himself for the post of prime minister and Berlusconi supported him as head of the party, the results would be around 18 percent," it said.
"If on the other hand Berlusconi himself ran for prime minister with Alfano and a team of young politicians, he could win up to 30 percent," it added.
Elections are due in April 2013, when Berlusconi will be 76 years old.
When he stepped down in November 2011, Berlusconi had signalled that Alfano would take over the leadership of the party on a permanent basis but the PDL suffered heavy losses in local elections earlier this year.
