Forza Italia and public office ban In June 2013, Berlusconi announced the refoundation of his first party Forza Italia (FI). On 18 September the new party was launched and officially founded on 16 November. After the foundation of Forza Italia, Berlusconi announced that his new party would oppose the grand coalition government of Enrico Letta; the new political position taken by Berlusconi caused dissent in the movement, and the governmental wing of Forza Italia led by Angelino Alfano split from FI and founded a Christian democratic party called New Centre-Right, which supported the Letta Cabinet. On 1 August 2013, Berlusconi was convicted of tax fraud by the court of final instance, the Supreme Court of Cassation, which confirmed his four-year prison sentence, of which three years are automatically pardoned, along with a public office ban for two years. As his age exceeded 70 years, he was exempted from direct imprisonment; he served his sentence by doing unpaid social community work. Because he was sentenced to a gross imprisonment of more than two years, a new Italian anti-corruption law (named after Paola Severino) resulted in the Senate expelling and barring him from serving in any legislative office for six years. Berlusconi pledged to stay leader of Forza Italia throughout his custodial sentence and public office ban. He was not able to campaign for his party, and according to him this was the main reason for declining opinion poll numbers, which are putting the party steadily in fourth place, behind the Democratic Party, the Five Star Movement and FI's long-time coalition partner Lega Nord. In March 2017, Berlusconi expressed his intention to run once again as centre-right candidate for the premiership, even if he is banned from public office until 2019; the 2018 Italian general election was his seventh one as the centre-right frontunner. The general election resulted in Lega per Salvini Premier winning more seats than FI, and no electoral coalition winning an outright majority. Political comeback and election to European Parliament In January 2019, Berlusconi expressed his intention to run for candidacy in the 2019 European Parliament election in Italy. In the election, Forza Italia received only 8.8% of votes, the worst result in its history. Berlusconi was elected in the Parliament, becoming the oldest member of the assembly. He was a potential nominee in the 2022 Italian presidential election, which was ultimately won by Sergio Mattarella. From 2019 to