ROME, Nov. 27 (Xinhua) -- Italy's former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday was stripped of his seat in parliament for immediate effect of a Senate-ejection vote over his conviction for tax fraud, but he pledged to remain in politics.

Senate Speaker Pietro Grasso declared the media tycoon ineligible for a seat after a seven-hour heated debate with rival senators nearly coming to blows.

Paola Taverna of the anti-establishment Five-Star Movement (M5S), which backed the ejection along with Prime Minister Enrico Letta's center-left Democratic Party (PD), called Berlusconi a "habitual offender."

"Your only aim is to eliminate him," shouted Manuela Repetti of Berlusconi's revived center-right Forza Italia (FI) party.

The vote marked the end of a process which established that Berlusconi cannot sit in parliament nor hold a task in government for six years under an anti-corruption law adopted in 2012 before Italy's highest court upheld a guilty verdict against him in August.

Berlusconi was given a four-year jail term, commuted to a year because of an amnesty, for tax fraud in buying film rights for his television network. It was the first definitive conviction in two decades of his legal battles, which still continue as he is appealing other prison sentences.

Yet, due to his advanced age, the 77-year-old will not go to jail and has requested to serve the year by doing social service rather than under house arrest. A Milan court is set to start consultation in April to assign him a place to serve the term.

Berlusconi, who has been a big protagonist of Italy's politics for some 20 years, promised however that his "fight for the good of Italy" will continue.

"We must stay on the field, we must not despair if the leader of the center-right is not a senator anymore," he told hundreds of supporters gathered outside his Rome residence shortly before the start of voting.

He said he would lead FI, that has considerable electoral support, outside parliament.