Even though Silvio Berlusconi cannot take up a seat in the European Parliament, Italians going to the polls in next week's elections for the body have a clear choice - vote for him or against him.
The prime minister is standing in all five of Italy's constituencies, asking government supporters to write his name on the ballot paper as their MEP of choice.
With his smiling face on posters that vaunt his achievements since sweeping to power in 2001, Berlusconi has made the EU election something of a referendum on his leadership of Italy's longest serving government since World War Two.
Analysts say the election will be just that, as voters will use the occasion to praise or punish him.
The votes he gets will be used to help other candidates of his party to go to Strasbourg.
Berlusconi's arch rival, European Commission president and former Italian premier Romano Prodi, hopes disaffected voters will switch to the left-wing Olive Tree alliance he is fronting.
"The timing of the elections is working out like an American mid-term election for Berlusconi," said Franco Pavoncello, professor of political science at Rome's John Cabot university.
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