Voters cast just under 800,000 invalid ballots in Sunday's presidential vote, with some spoiling them by writing messages condemning president-elect Vladimir Putin and the election, Central Elections Commission head Vladimir Churov said, Interfax reported.
Churov said the figure represented just over 1 percent of all ballots cast, which was about 0.5 percent fewer spoiled ballots than were cast in December's State Duma vote.
Some voters made their ballots invalid by writing critical messages, including "Putin is a thief!" and "Return greatness to Russia, idiots!" Opposition politician Boris Nemtsov wrote on his ballot: "We need fair elections, not these," RBK reported.
At least one voter, for some reason, wrote a message about actor Chuck Norris.
"Chuck Norris is a cool dude," wrote one voter, who also drew in a box across from the message and checked it, said blogger Leonid Kaganov on his LiveJournal page.
