Italian senators to vote in public on Berlusconi ouster

ROME, Oct. 30 (UPI) -- Italian senators will vote in the open on whether former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi should be expelled for his tax fraud conviction, officials said.

The open vote is in contradiction with Senate protocol but Berlusconi's opponents said it was necessary to prevent senators from making secret deals with the embattled lawmaker to preserve his seat, Italy's ANSA news agency reported Wednesday.

Berlusconi's center-right People of Freedom (PDL) party has entered into a power-sharing agreement with the majority leftist Democratic Party.

Prime Minister Enrico Letta has said the vote should be public and supports Berlusconi's ouster. It's believed that between Letta's leftist Democrats and votes from the minority 5-Star Movement party, there are enough votes to expel Berlusconi from the Senate.

Berlusconi has appealed the expulsion measure to the Italian courts, arguing the 2012 law that allows for members convicted of a crime to face an expulsion vote doesn't apply to his tax fraud charges because they predate the law's passage. He was convicted in August after exhausting appeals.

Berlusconi has also been convicted of soliciting sex from a minor after allegedly paying an underage prostitute for sex during his now-infamous "bunga bunga" parties. That conviction is also pending appeal.

Berlusconi has long maintained his prosecutions are politically motivated and has denied any wrongdoing.