Berlusconi: Former Italian PM to undergo surgery on Tuesday

The media mogul said in a message on Facebook on Friday his Forza Italia party was perfectly able to function despite his absence.

Silvio Berlusconi is expected to undergo surgery on Tuesday, his doctor said on Saturday, after the four-time Italian prime minister was admitted to hospital this week with a heart problem.

A spokeswoman for Milan's San Raffaele hospital, where the 79-year-old centre-right leader will have a defective aortic valve replaced, confirmed the comment made to reporters by Berlusconi's personal doctor Alberto Zangrillo.

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The media mogul said in a message on Facebook on Friday his Forza Italia party was perfectly able to function despite his absence, ahead of a run-off vote in municipal elections on June 19.