Italian politicians are debating whether to expel Silvio Berlusconi from the Senate. They will vote early on Wednesday evening.
The former prime minister was convicted of tax fraud last year. Italy’s high court upheld the conviction and four-year prison sentence in August.
Under Italian law, anyone sentenced to more than two years in prison is banned from holding or running for public office for six years.
On the streets of Rome, residents believed they hadn’t seen the last of Berlusconi.
One man said: “It is not the end of him, not at all, because both in and out of parliament I think he will still have a way of giving his opinion. As far as the expulsion is concerned we need to accept it, the numbers in Parliament are there for it. We will be watching to see what happens, but in the meantime we will enjoy the drama.”
Another added: “I think he will be expelled. But not because of him, but because that’s how the Italian justice system works. At the moment that’s how it is, and so it’s right that they expel him.”
Berlusconi will adress his supporters at a rally outside the Palazzo Grazioli in Rome, where he lives, shortly before the vote.
His Forza Italia party withdrew its support from Enrico Letta’s ruling coalition on Tuesday, ahead of the vote.
