Silvio Berlusconi to run for Italian leadership again

Three-time former Prime Minister of Italy, Silvio Berlusconi, has announced his intention to run for leadership again next year, in the March elections.

“I am coming back out of a sense of responsibility. I am running to win" Silivio Berlusconi announced on Saturday. He added that his party had supported Mario Monti's technocrat government for one year, but the policy of austerity has proven harmful to the country. Berlusconi, 76, resigned as Italian Prime Minister in November 2011, when the People of Freedom party withdrew their support for him. In October 2012 the former PM received a four-year sentence by the Italian courts for tax fraud. Digital Journal reported he was also barred from politics for five years. One day after the sentence was passed the BBC reported Berlusconi stated he felt "obliged to stay in politics," but said he had no intention of standing as Prime Minister again, a postion now reversed. Berlusconi's four-year sentence was subsequently cut to one year due to an amnesty law. To date he remains free pending appeals.