Berlusconi two-year ban undermining FI, says fiance

Ex-premier's daughter may provide hope

(ANSA) - Rome, March 21 - Ex-premier Silvio Berlusconi's two-year ban from public office may be weakening the Forza Italia party he founded, his fiance said Friday.

"A forced absence from the ballot boxes, from the electoral platforms, of a leader with Berlusconi's capacity does not pass by unnoticed," Francesca Pascale said in an interview with Italian newspaper la Repubblica. Following a definitive tax fraud conviction last year, Berlusoni was banned from office for two years, a decision recently upheld by the country's supreme court. Future leadership may come from Berlusconi's daughter Marina, said Pascale.