Former longtime Silvio Berlusconi sporting no 2 Adriano Galliani on Monday won the Senate seat left vacant when the three.time ex-premier and media mogul died in June, beating right-to-die activist Marco Cappato in a by-election at Monza near Milan.
Monza-born Galliani, 79, who has been CEO of the local Serie A club since Berlusconi bought it after selling AC Milan in 2017, was CEO of AC Milan under Berlusconi from 1986 to 2017 when the Rossoneri won five Champions League trophies and eight Serie A titles.
Milan-born Cappato, 52, who had grown to prominence by helping many Italians end their lives in assisted suicides, first in Switzerland and more recently in Italy, conceded defeat and said "my compliments to Galliani".
Galliani was standing for Berlusconi's centre-right Forza Italia (FI) party, at the head of a centre-right ticket, and Cappato for the liberal More Europe (+Europa) party, for a centre-left ticket.
After his win Galliani said "I've seen fantastic results, (but) I would certainly have preferred that this seat should remain in the hands of my life master, my guide, my all, who was Silvio Berlusconi".
He added: "The victory is dedicated exclusively to Berlusconi to whom I will be grateful all my life".
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