Berlusconi loses Senate seat over tax fraud convictio

Silvio Berlusconi, the man who has dominated Italian politics for the past two decades, was ejected from parliament on Wednesday and banned from running for office for six years because of a tax fraud conviction, dpa reported. Italy's upper house of parliament, the Senate, reached the decision shortly after 5.30 pm (1630 GMT), after rejecting several contrary motions from members of Berlusconi's Forza Italia party. The outcome was widely expected, since the opposition Five Star Movement and the ruling centre-left Democratic Party had said the former prime minister should not be allowed to keep his seat following his conviction. Before the vote, Berlusconi rallied a few thousand of his supporters at a demonstration outside his Roman residence. "We are here for a bitter day, a day of mourning for democracy," he told them.