Italy’s pro-Israel ex-prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, will return to power for a third term.
Berlusconi’s center-right coalition beat out the center-left coalition led by former Rome Mayor Walter Veltroni, polls showed. More than 158 parties fielded candidates in the general elections, held Sunday and Monday.
The election was called two years after Berlusconi lost the premiership to center-leftist Romano Prodi.
Berlusconi, a conservative billionaire, won in an Italy beset by social and economic woes. He has been accused of corruption but has won praise from Jewish groups for his support of Israel.
Veltroni also had been lauded by Jews for instituting a broad Holocaust educational program and escorting high school students on educational trips to Auschwitz.
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