A total of 83.6 percent of voters in Italy's general election cast their ballots, Italian Interior Minister Giuseppe Pisanu said on Monday.

The turnout stood at 81.4 percent in the last general election of 2001, according to the Interior Ministry.

Italians went to the polls on Sunday and Monday.

This was the first time ever that Italians abroad, some three million, have been given a say in who will run the country over the next five years.

Their votes elect six out of the Senate's 315 members and 12 of the 630 Lower House members in Italy.

Source: Xinhua