Does anyone take any notice of the number of spoilt ballot papers in an election?

Blank and spoilt ballot papers will not be counted among the votes cast.

Votes and turnout percentage include 16 spoilt ballot papers.

The United Kingdom has a clear record of the lowest number of spoilt ballot papers when people go to vote.

Does he think that the PR system in France which has resulted in two million spoilt ballot papers is a bit ridiculous?

The only country in the European Union which has a smaller percentage of spoilt ballot papers is the United Kingdom, in its tried and tested first-past-the-post system.

Does he think, for example, the PR system which operates in Germany and has produced over one million spoilt ballot papers thus defranchising one million people is ridiculous?

Or does he think that the system in his own country, Italy, which has produced over seven million spoilt ballot papers - almost the population of London - is a bit ridiculous?

Of those who voted, between 20% and 28% for each question handed in either blank votes or spoilt ballot papers, so questions 4 and 5 received support from less than half of the total votes.

The day after the election, former Home Secretary Charles Clarke suggested that, because of the low turnout and high number of spoilt ballot papers, there was no popular mandate for the new commissioners.

The factual evidence on PR suggests that, bearing in mind the spoilt ballot papers that remain in each Member State that has PR, large numbers of voters reject it at every election.