For the Lower House some 71,48 percent of voters cast their ballot, while for the Senate was 72.01 percent turned up to vote. The figures for the 2013 election, according to initial data, were similar.
People aged 18 and over can vote for the Lower House, but only people 25 or over can vote for the Upper House.
Projections on the outcome suggest that the centre-right coalition will come first, while the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S) will be the top individual party.
However, no party or coalition is on course to win majority in parliament, according to the projections. Consorzio Opinio Italia’s first projection for State broadcaster RAI put the centre-right ahead in the Senate with 36 percent of the vote, with the M5S the biggest group in the Upper House on 31.8 percent.
The projection gave the centre left coalition only 24.7 percent, with its leading group, the Democratic Party (PD), under the 20 percent threshold with 19.6 percent.
Matteo Salvini’s party, La Lega was first with 15.9 percent, compared to 14.2 percent for Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and 4.4 percent for the Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, according to the projection.
M5S also is set to be the biggest party on the new Lower House with 32.1 percent of the vote, according to a SWG projection for La 7. The PD is projected to get 19 percent, Salvini’s League 17.5 percent, well ahead of its centre-right alliance partner Forza Italia with 14.1 percent and Brothers of Italy (FdI) with 4.1 percent.
Giancarlo Giorgetti, the deputy leader of the League, said on Monday that his party will hold talks with its centre-right alliances on what to do after the general election before anything else. “First we’ll talk with our allies,” Giorgetti said. “We have clear ideas about what to do and we look to the future with serenity and awareness.
“We know what we have to do. I think [League leader] Matteo Salvini has met the challenges he set himself”.
There has been speculation that the League could join forces with the anti-establishment 5-Star Movement (M5S), which is projected to be the biggest party in the new parliament, to form a new government if the centre right comes up short of winning a working majority.