Editing Silvio Berlusconi (section)

=== Beginnings ===
Berlusconi entered politics in 1994, reportedly admitting to [[Indro Montanelli]] and [[Enzo Biagi]] that he was forced to do so to avoid imprisonment.<ref name="Peretz Rampini">Evgenia Peretz (with [[Federico Rampini]]) [https://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/07/silvio-berlusconi-201107 ''La Dolce Viagra''], at [[Vanity Fair (magazine)|Vanity Fair]], July 2011 "I am forced to enter politics, otherwise they will put me in prison." {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140414235103/http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/2011/07/silvio-berlusconi-201107 |date=14 April 2014 }}</ref> He served as [[prime minister of Italy]] from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006, and 2008 to 2011. His career was racked with [[Controversies surrounding Silvio Berlusconi|controversies]] and [[Trials involving Silvio Berlusconi|trials]];<ref name="rai_carrierapolitica"/> among these was his failure to honour his promise to sell his personal assets in [[Mediaset]], the largest television broadcaster in Italy, to dispel any perceived [[conflict of interest|conflicts of interest]].<ref>{{cite news |title=Conflitto interessi: Cossiga, Berlusconi venda Mediaset fin che può – MilanoFinanza News |url=https://www.milanofinanza.it/news/conflitto-interessi-cossiga-berlusconi-venda-mediaset-fin-che-puo-172432?archivio=True |access-date=16 June 2023 |work=MF Milano Finanza |date=9 April 2006 |language=it |archive-date=16 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230616191921/https://www.milanofinanza.it/news/conflitto-interessi-cossiga-berlusconi-venda-mediaset-fin-che-puo-172432?archivio=True |url-status=live }}</ref>

In the early 1990s, the five governing parties known as the [[Pentapartito]], including [[Christian Democracy (Italy)|Christian Democracy]] ({{langx|it|Democrazia Cristiana}}), the [[Italian Socialist Party]], the [[Italian Social-Democratic Party]], the [[Italian Republican Party]] and the [[Italian Liberal Party]], lost much of their electoral strength almost overnight due to a large number of judicial investigations concerning the financial corruption of many of their foremost members in the [[Mani Pulite]] affair. This led to a general expectation that upcoming elections would be won by the [[Democratic Party of the Left]], the heirs to the former [[Italian Communist Party]], and their [[Alliance of Progressives]] coalition unless an alternative arose. On 26 January 1994, Berlusconi announced his decision to enter politics, in his own words to "enter the field", presenting his own political party, {{Lang|it|[[Forza Italia]]|italic=no}}, on a platform focused on defeating ''[[Communist (insult)|communists]]''. His political aim was to convince the voters of the [[Pentapartito]], who were shocked and confused by [[Mani Pulite]] scandals, that {{Lang|it|[[Forza Italia]]|italic=no}} offered both a fresh uniqueness and the continuation of the pro-Western free-market policies followed by Italy since the end of [[World War II]]. Shortly after he decided to enter the political arena, investigators into the Mani Pulite affair were said to be close to issuing warrants for the arrest of Berlusconi and senior executives of his business group. During his political career, Berlusconi repeatedly stated that the Mani Pulite investigations were led by communist [[prosecutors]] who wanted to establish a [[Soviet]]-style government in Italy.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/eco343/060compecon/Europe%20West/Italy/060330berlusc.txt|title=As Italy Votes, Golden Career of Berlusconi Is at Crossroads|newspaper=The Wall Street Journal|date=30 March 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130921051738/http://courses.wcupa.edu/rbove/eco343/060compecon/Europe%20West/Italy/060330berlusc.txt |archive-date=21 September 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.theamericanmag.com/article.php?article=385&p=2|title=Italian Election, The Prelude|work=[[The American (magazine)|The American]]|date=1 April 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140222014325/http://www.theamericanmag.com/article.php?article=385&p=2 |archive-date=22 February 2014}}</ref>