''Berlusconi, Five Star and the Road to Political Gridlock'' der Spiegel

''It was perhaps the most outlandish appearance of the campaign. Late at night on a public television station, an aged man came on looking as though he had just stepped out of a Madam Tussauds wax museum, his similarity to the embalmed Mao Zedong difficult to ignore. He read out a personal statement from a sheet of paper. The anchor standing devoutly next to him was hardly any younger.
The old man ceremoniously proclaimed the title: "Commitment to the Italians," followed by 90 seconds of vainglorious blustering. Then came the pledge: "Following the certain victory of the center-right parties in the March 4 election, I will create jobs together with the prime minister. My goal is to bring the unemployment rate below the EU average during the legislative period. Signed: Silvio Berlusconi."
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